Where I Come From

I was making a simple cucumber salad the other night.  To call it a salad even seems too grand given that it is basically a soured cream and over cucumbers, but my mom and grandma and my great-grandma used to make it.  Standing in the middle of my kitchen in Kathmandu, Nepal, it made me suddenly feel Mennonite and Midwestern and connected to where I come from.  And, I found myself lost in something deeper than just nostalgia or sentimentality, though there is certainly much of that mixed in.  Nothing is perfect this side of heaven, and there were certainly challenges to growing up in any culture and family, but I found myself thinking about the uniqueness of where I come from, what I come from, and realizing that I could fill up an entire list of 1000 gifts with just these things alone!
I am grateful for the gifts, for the joys, and even the challenges!
Because I come from:
*  generations who have been faithful to the Lord and faithful to family
*  knowing not only all of my grandparents but many of my great-grandparents as well and sharing my growing up with them
*  great-grandparents who were married for 75 years, grandparents who were married 71 years, and parents who are still married after 38 years!
*  people who value peace as more than just a political statement
*  being known instantly in an entire area where I never lived by simply identifying myself as one of "J. John's grandkids"
*  riding in tractors and digging in dirt and feeding newborn animals from a bottle and people who are connected to the land and the food they have worked hard to produce
*  "corn days" that gathered entire extended families to store away what an entire season had been dedicated to growing
*  canning days and baking days and sewing days of beautiful women gathered together and working as one to make wonderful things from scratch
*  attending weddings, baby showers, and funerals and seeing the beauty and lives walk gracefully through each
*  four-part acapella singing that still gives me goosebumps
*  potluck meals with whole tables dedicated just to home-baked desserts
*  joyful simple living as a choice
*  an astounding work ethic and perseverance
*  knowing who my 3rd cousins, twice-removed are :)
*  a town that all gathers for the Friday night basketball game
*  teachers who knew me and were part of my life before, during, and after I was in their classes
*  wide open spaces to run and ride my bike without anyone worrying about where I was
*  night skies full of stars
*  countless numbers of books being read to me, even at the ends of long and weary days
*  never being allowed to leave the house without eating breakfast and knowing there would always, always be food--good food--in my home
*  knowing always that I was loved and treasured
*  never having an extra-curricular event (years and years of sports and academic programs and whatever else) without at least one family member present
*  special "global meals" prepared by my mom to help us catch a broader vision of the world
*  being protected by and taken care of by my dad, even when I couldn't admit to needing it
*  parents who gave me the freedom to choose my way of faith but modeled a life of faith
*  a community that comes together to support when hard times strike
*  Christmas celebrations that bent the "rules" for simplicity
*  "sticking Psalms"
*  picnics, parties, and "ordinary" Sunday afternoons at my grandparents' home
*  tire swings in big, strong trees
*  4-H livestock shows and county fairs
*  overnight stays at my grandparents' home filled with milkshakes, "Button, button, who's got the button?", and hearty farm breakfasts
*  extended family gatherings for holidays
*  decorating for Christmas the day after Thanksgiving
*  annual trips to Chicago to see the Christmas windows at Marshall Field's and choose a new ornament
*  family trips to Chicago to museums, Cubs' games, Ed Debevic's, and other restaurants
*  Bible Memory club
*  respecting elders
*  a community that values self-discipline and sacrifice
*  a great-grandmother whose gift of hospitality made bologna sandwiches taste like the most amazing feast
*  parents, grandparents, great-grandparents, aunts, uncles, cousins who prayed and still pray for me, for their friends and families and communities and this incredible world God created and loves
*  sharing battles and victories with my little brother
*  "being rooted and established in love"

This is a fraction of the list of gifts.
I come from blessing, from love, from abundant gifts beyond what I can ever express or count.
And, it is a gift just to be able to remember where I come from.