“The one who offers thanksgiving as his sacrifice glorifies me;
to one who orders his way rightly
I will show the salvation of God!” Psalm 50:23
I have been spending much time praying and reflecting on the Kairos team I served on this past weekend. One thing serving inside a prison does is instills gratitude into your life. It make you remember how thankful you are for all the simple things we take for granted that we have living free in our daily life.
On this past weekend serving in Tutwiler women’s prison, we make and serve the inmates fruit trays as part of their meals. A women inmate picked up a strawberry and started crying as it had been years since she saw or tasted a strawberry. Another woman inmate when she saw the salad that was served with a meal asked my wife, “Is that Romain lettuce?” When my wife said yes, tears came to the woman’s eye as she told my wife ”I Love romain lettuce” and then filled her plate with it and cherished every bite wile eating it.
On a Kairos weekend, the inmates are served lunch and dinner. Woman back at our team location cook home-made dinners for the inmates and runners bring them into the prison. At St. Clair Prison, all the inmates have long sentences. Most 40 years or more, 70% have life without parole sentences and are never getting out. For these men, it has been years since they had a home cooked meal, and the ones they receive on this weekend will be the last ones of their life.
I remember one Kairos I served on inside St. Clair prison for men.. One of the team members I served with owned a McDonalds restaurant. He donated hundreds of quarter pounders with cheese for a lunch meal. I was sitting at a table with 6 inmates eating, and one of the inmates asked if he could have my quarter pounder. I said' "Sure, I can stop on the way home and get one if I want, you can’t." As I slid the burger across the table to the inmate he said “Thank You.” I told him, “Your welcome.” He said, “No really, I mean thank you. You see I have a life without parole sentence and it has been 23 years since I last had anything from McDonald’s, and this burger you gave me will be the last one I eat before I die.”
We bring in metal folding chairs for the inmates to sit on. Folding metal chairs are far from a “luxury” item to you and II that we are thankful to have, and actually we usually hate sitting in them for an extended time period. However, to the inmates they are something special. At St. Clair, none of the places they sit have a back on them. The cafeteria and common areas where guys watch TV have tables with those built-in round seats with no backs. Out in the yard and other areas of the prison are picnic tables and benches. Except for the one or two times a year they get called into a prison administrators office, for the inmates this weekend will be the first time, and possibly last time they sit for an extended time in a chair with a back on it. They say it makes them feel like men.
There are so many things we receive a during every minute of every day we eat, use, wear, own, and experience in our day to day life we do so thanklessly and without gratitude. I am sure everyone of these men or women in prison did so as well. Until these things were taken away from them. The ability for me to sit here in my recliner and write this blog post, and you read it wherever you are sitting now, and to communicate on a cell phone is one I do daily without thinking about it. Cell phones are not allowed in prison.
Read Psalm 50:23, 60:30, 95:2; 1 Cor. 1:4; 2 Cor. 2:10-12; Philippians 4:6 Then take time to reflect to on all the things you have to be thankful for today.
My family, I pray as you go through the day today as you eat, wear, use, experience everything that is available to you, after reading this post, you will do it with a greater appreciation and a heart of thanksgiving and gratitude, in Jesus’ name. Please pray the same for me. God bless you my friends!
Post any reflection, questions, words of thanksgiving in the comments section below.
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