Squanto

I wrote this last week for our Adventist Volunteer Service volunteers serving from North America. It's a thought I want to remember, so I'm recording it here as well...Happy Late Thanksgiving! :) 

The last few nights I watched a National Geographic special called “Saints and Strangers.” It was the story of the “first Thanksgiving”—the pilgrims sailing on the Mayflower, settling New Plymouth, and making friends with the Indians. It sounds so simple until you actually dive into history a little more.

One figure that really stood out in the story was Squanto. His full name, “Tisquantum,” was probably not what he was named at birth, but it’s how he introduced himself to the Pilgrims. It actually means “rage.”

Squanto had good reason for his rage. He was kidnapped as a young man, and ended up crossing the Atlantic six times before he could finally return to his people. When he did, he found that not only his family, but his entire tribe had been wiped out by a plague brought by the English.

Then came the day when the tribe he had settled with asked for his help in translating with the settlers of Plymouth. That was the day when Squanto, “rage,” introduced himself to this group of English, dying and sickly—and instead of taking revenge, he saved their lives. He taught them how to plant crops that helped them survive an especially hard winter. He helped negotiate an alliance with the native tribes that lasted for 50 years, which began with the first Thanksgiving. He developed a good friendship with William Bradford, the governor of Plymouth, who was with him when he died in his early 40s of illness, possibly poisoned by a local tribe who did not appreciate his peacemaking efforts. Bradford wrote that Squanto gave away his belongings to the English settlers as he was dying, and asked Bradford to pray for him.

When I think of Squanto, I think of forgiveness. Without his willingness to put aside his rage, there would probably be no Pilgrims to remember, no traditional Thanksgiving to celebrate. It reminds me that when we are willing to set aside our “right” to revenge or to ingratitude, we can find redemption—for ourselves and generations to come. God can transform us from victims to heroes.

We all carry a little pain with us, but I pray that this Thanksgiving, wherever we are, that we can invite Jesus to heal any bitterness in us; to begin to redeem the painful experiences we may have faced—whether from the last few months or from years ago—by what He can do in and through us to bring peace to a very broken world.