I have Plenty

My Mom is from Iwakuni, Japan - she escaped -by only one day- from being in Hiroshima the day the atomic bomb was dropped in 1945. My Dad is from Kentucky - dirt poor with 15 brothers and sisters. He joined the Marines for a better life - I think he would agree he found it when he met my Mom....and visa versa :).

They met and got married and then my Mom left everything - her family, her home and her friends - to follow this young Marine back to the States. She learned to cook southern fried chicken that had my high school friends begging for more- she learned to make red-eye gravy and if you don't know what that is...well..you're not from "these parts" :) and I would put her sweet tea up against Paula Deen anyday!

Here's this Japanese woman - cooking southern food for anyone and everyone she meets - literally. Once she had a tire blowout and almost crashed! A Highway Patrolman stopped to help her and stayed with her until my Dad could get there. They had a great conversation and my Mom learned that he loved Japanese food. So, the next day - she cooked an entire Japanese meal and drove it to the station to say Thank You.

She's pretty awesome.

With the catastophe of the earthquake and tsunami in Japan on Friday, reports are horrific.
I am praying for the people there as I did for the people of Haiti.

I saw footage today as Diane Sawyer was walking among the debris and town of Sendai. The people were shoveling mud - seemed pretty fruitless - and then a group was sitting together and immediately a man jumped up and offered Diane and her crew some food - whatever they had. They wanted "to share...we have plenty".

In the midst of the great loss - how do they see that they have "plenty"?

My Mom, in the midst of an accident, a hurt and dealing the lifelong sadness of leaving her home and family - add to the fact that she has never been back to Japan since arriving here back in 1958 - she sees that she has "plenty" - always enough to share.

I pray I can see the Plenty that I am blessed with on my worse days.