Imagine …
You are ripped from your childhood home while young and trafficked across the ocean to a country where you don’t speak the language. You are sold to practitioners of a religion that you don’t understand, and there is no apparent possibility of return.
Imagine …
You are quietly going along with your life, worshipping God the way you desire — and then the country you love treats you like you are a second class citizen, and tries to shut down your private expressions. So you band together with friends and family, and you get out of dodge and settle someplace else.
And then most of your friends and family die.
…
But then, coming out of wilderness walks a man who brings hope.
He is the same man who was ripped from his childhood home while young… and he is now approaching people from the very same country as those who stole his childhood.
And yet he comes in friendship.
The Spanish monks who purchased Squanto from his English slavers did so in a mission of restoration. They taught him languages, they set him free, and after a period of a few years (during which he also learned English), he made it back to his native land.
But his childhood tribe had been decimated by smallpox and was gone. He found his way to another tribe, the Wampanoag … who just so happen to be watching this new band of settlers — the pilgrims.
And Squanto and the Wampanoag help these English pilgrims survive their second harsh winter, and hope begins to arise.
These are the seeds of Thanksgiving.
Imagine …
You are leading a country in the middle of terrible war, one that is ripping families apart and causing bloodshed and death. And you reach towards this history, because you KNOW that no matter what kind of devastation might be surrounding you, the only way through it is to reach for gratitude.
Because when Abraham Lincoln established Thanksgiving as a national holiday in 1863, he did so with the understanding that there is ALWAYS the possibility for hope on the horizon.
And this week, we would do well to remember these stories. To remember that no matter what we are facing, we can reach towards the example of those who have gone before us to find that hope, and move towards gratitude.
I hope you understand that we here at Hinckley Tax Service are so grateful for YOU. We’re grateful for the opportunity to serve Cleveland , and to be a beacon of financial hope for our local families.
YOU are like family to us, and we look forward to walking with you through whatever might come in 2020, saving you on your taxes, and pointing you towards gratitude and joy whenever possible.
Happy Thanksgiving, from our family to yours.
Warmly,
Rich Rhodes
(330) 225-3928
Hinckley Tax Service