A brief dialogue between turkey and me. |
ME: Good afternoon, Mr. Turkey. I just wanted to thank you for granting me this interview. I have always wondered what it would be like to be a turkey so close to Thanksgiving. TURKEY: Why? What are you . . . some sort of barbarian? By the way, you can call me Tom. (A female turkey is called a hen.) ME: No. I am a traditionalist. I enjoy celebrating the Thanksgiving tradition. It wasn't me that decided that the turkey should be the center of attention. TURKEY: Oh, so you like tradition, do you? Are you familiar with the tradition of Thanksgiving? ME: You bet I am! That's why I wanted to get a chance to talk to you before . . . well, you know I'm falling apart. Can you put me back together? TURKEY: I would rather not. Me: Why? TURKEY: Because you aren't a puzzle. Me: What about all of the pieces of my life that are falling down onto the ground? TURKEY: Let them stay there for a while. They fell off for a reason. Take some time and decide if you need any of those pieces back. Me: You don't understand! I'm breaking down! TURKEY: No - you don't understand YOU ARE BREAKING THROUGH. What you are feeling is just growing pains. You are shedding the things, the people, and the systems in your life that are holding you back. You aren't falling apart. YOU ARE FALLING INTO PLACE. RELAX. Take some deep breaths and allow those things you don't need anymore to fall off of you. Quit holding onto the pieces that don't fit you anymore. Let them fall off. Let them go. Me: Once I start doing that, what will be left of me? TURKEY: Only the very best pieces of you. Me: I'm scared of change. TURKEY: I keep telling you - YOU AREN'T CHANGING!! YOU ARE BECOMING! Me: Becoming who? TURKEY: Becoming who God created you to be! A person of light and love and charity and hope and courage and joy and mercy and grace and compassion. You are fearless... God made you for more than the shallow pieces you have decided to adorn yourself with that you cling to with such greed, gluttony. jealousy and fear. Let those things fall off of you. GOD LOVES YOU!! DON'T CHANGE BECOME!! Become! Become! Become! Become who God made you to be. God's going to keep telling you this until you remember it. That's my message as well on this Thanksgiving. Me: There goes another piece. TURKEY: Yep. Let it be. Me: So...I'm not broken? TURKEY: No - but you are BREAKING LIKE A NEW DAWN !!! Be grateful for all the things that you have. And when you gather this year around the Thanksgiving Day table, thank God for your bounty and pray for those who are less fortunate than you. Things have been very difficult for so many. Please reach out and help one another. If you do that, my sacrifice will have been worth it. 496 words |