Thankful For Our Heritages

I’m looking forward to a delicious turkey dinner. When I think of the first settlers of this great land and all they endured to wrest a living for themselves and their families out of the land I am more than grateful. I am also amazed that we have it so easy. Every different part of this vast land had its own challenges, but I think of the heritage of my family—my great grandparents are buried in South Dakota—making a hard and often merciless land fruitful.

The Dakotas were primarily settled by Germans and Norwegians. Everything they did in those early years was simply for survival. That was Great Plains territory, miles and miles of grassland with an extensive, intertwined root system. To make the rich soil ready for cultivation, the first year there they had to turn the sod so the roots would be exposed to the elements and decompose so they could get a plow through it the next spring and plant crops. The sod was so compact, they used it to build their first houses as trees were scarce. Winters were a struggle, psychologically, because they were dim and dark, without windows and there was little going outside into the fierce winter weather.

Every people living in this land has a heritage of family members who were hard working and God fearing, in one way or another. Even the first nations tribes came from somewhere else. So be thankful for your heritage and be thankful for the goodness of this land.