THANKSGIVING, PINK HOUSES, AND OLD ROCK BANDS
One of my Canadian friends – who has been living in the United States for many years – told me that Thanksgiving was his favorite holiday.
“The way you Americans celebrate holidays, you’re either going into massive credit card debt, something explodes in your face, or your teeth rot out from all the sugar. But for some reason American Thanksgiving is not like that,” my Canadian friend said to me.
Pam Kidd
It is always great to be surrounded by an attitude of gratitude, and I love the Thanksgiving gratitude lists that I’ve written over the years. Recently, I was reading a post by writer and blogger, Pam Kidd, and it had a very interesting twist on gratitude and saying thank you.
Pam is the author of several books, including I Have CFS: But I Don’t Look Sick and Prayer for the Children of Zimbabwe. CFS stands for chronic fatigue syndrome, which is something that Pam has had to deal with. The interest in the children of Zimbabwe comes from her active work with several nonprofits in that part of the world.
She writes that it is “not unusual for Jesus to place ‘pink houses’ before us in the actions of our friends. What better way can he make his directions clear?”
I don’t know about “pink houses,” but there have been several “pink cats“ in my life. For many years when I was heading up research at United Way, my boss was a very talented guru in the area of brand management, and marketing by the name of Cynthia Round. Cynthia was a senior executive at Procter & Gamble and managed such well-known brands as Mr. Clean.
One time I asked my boss what was Mr. Clean’s first name? She looked at me as if I had just insulted her mother, and she said, “His name is just Mr. Clean.” Cynthia came to United Way because she has a big heart, and she wanted to put her talents for the cause of helping people and social justice.
I learned many things from Cynthia. One thing she taught me was to put in a “pink cat” into a project when handing it off to a client. You know that the client is going to change something, so you put in a “pink cat” which you can easily take out when the client objects.
Come to think of it, there was one “pink house” in my past during my college days. The legendary group called the Band (and they played with Bob Dylan) lived in a pink house when they were recording one of their early albums. The album cover had a big pink house on it, and the album was titled: Music from Big Pink. I played that album so much that the record needle almost wore out the vinyl grooves.
But I think that Pam Kidd was trying to get at something deeper than “pink cats” and pink rock ‘n’ roll band houses from the 1960s.
Both Pam and her friend Mike were working with a charity that helps AIDS orphans in Zimbabwe. Mike asked Pam how much it would cost to add a library to the Village Hope School they were building in that African nation.
It turned out to be an expensive price tag, but Mike said that he would donate funds to cover the cost. Mike was asked if he would like the library named after him, and he said definitely not. The gift should remain anonymous.
As the library was being built, it was designed to have adult literacy, classes, tutoring programs, and other services. Pam tried another approach to honor Mike for his gift. “What inspired you to do this?” she asked.
“My grandmother Annie Sue,” Mike said.
The “pink house” being displayed by Mike reflects on some key spiritual principles, Pam believes. “Happiness comes when we give freely, asking nothing in return. Mike has become a ‘pink house’ pointing the way,” she notes
Pam thought creatively and came up with a way to honor Mike and his family, and at the same time keep his donation anonymous. With Mike’s permission, a plaque was attached on a wall in the Zimbabwe library. The plaque reads:
Say Her Name
Annie Sue Totty Shelby
Her love brought these books to you.
On Thanksgiving, the “pink house” that often comes up in my mind is the verse Luke 12:48: To whom much has been given, much is required. By the standards of the world much has been given to most of us. It is important for us to be grateful for what we do have, and to be channels where God’s abundance can flow to others.
As Jesus put it so well, “Freely receive, and freely give” (Matthew 10:8). We really cannot out-give God.
May you have a wonderful Thanksgiving. Seeing you surrounded by the warm light of love, joy, and peace. And may there be many “pink houses” in your life.
