Kangaroos and Thanksgiving
April 6, 2020 by Stephanie Prichard
Filed under Humor, Stories
By Steph Prichard –
“Where are all the kangaroos?” I peered out the car window at the Australian countryside north of Geelong. The land looked no different than what I’d left in the United States—acres and acres of gently rolling farmland. Except … shouldn’t there be kangaroos hopping across the road, echidna as road kill, maybe an emu strolling among the sheep?
“Kangaroos don’t run wild in farmland, Mom. I’ll take you to see some tomorrow.”
Ahead of us, a car in the wrong lane aimed itself straight at us. I sucked in air through my clenched teeth as it zipped past on the right. How many choking breaths would it take before I remembered Aussies drove in the wrong … er, left lane?
Three weeks later the kangaroos and echidnas and emus and I had everything straightened out. I returned home in love with the land of Down Under, its people, and its amazing creatures. Everything … except driving on the wrong side of the road.
Had the first settlers in the New World felt a similar awe at the strange land they set their feet on? We join them at Thanksgiving in expressing gratefulness for a land of liberty and opportunity, a land in which we are free to worship God and to live to please Him.
We even figured it out about driving on the right side of the road—but it’s still the wrong side. Spiritually, ever since Adam and Eve, the world has been driving away from God, not toward Him. Our greatest gratitude as Christians is for a Savior who became The Road, the way back for us to God.
And it only gets better. The Road takes us to a perfect land—Heaven, where there will be no more sin, no more tears, no more death, but God Himself dwelling with His people. Can it be any better than that? God with us, in person!
And, hey, since “creation itself also will be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of God,” who knows what fauna and flora we will encounter? Think of all the plants and animals that have become extinct—what a wonder that would be to see them! (My trip to Australia has me hankering to see a Tasmanian devil.)
Thanksgiving—it’s our feast from the day of our salvation to the day of our arrival in eternity with God. How are you doing? Are you chowing down with an attitude of gratitude?
