Thankful for New Friends

As the Pilgrims celebrated the very first feast of thanksgiving all those many years ago, one of the many things they gave thanks for was the new friendships they had made with the Native Americans who had helped them to survive the harsh winters in their new land. I can only imagine how both the Pilgrims and the Native Americans felt towards one another. They were so very different in everything from simple dress to basic living styles. They were different, the Pilgrims and the Native Americans, but they were the same too. All humans need companionship which comes from friends. In those harsh winters when so many Pilgrims had died, those who survived needed help, they needed companionship, they needed friends. In times of need, strangers become friends. In good times, those friends become family. The first Thanksgiving celebrated here in America reminds us not only of the bountiful blessing of food and shelter and other things, but also the bountiful blessing of friendships that surround and sustain us in both good and bad times.