1 Thessalonians 5:16-18
As Thanksgiving approaches I think more and more about what I am thankful for. I don't have to think very hard to come up with a long list of what to be thankful for. This year was not an easy year by any means. Last Thanksgiving if I had been asked to predict the next year I never would have guessed the trials we would have encountered. What does James 1:2-4 tell us? Consider it all joy knowing that the testing of your faith produces endurance and to let endurance have its perfect result so you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing. So, with those words in mind I worked though the trials of the last year. I wasn't always precisely cheerful, and I didn't celebrate our bad situations, but I was thankful to the Lord in all of our circumstances. I held on to the realization that He was moving in my life to place us in a better situation, on a better path, to put new people in our lives, to put us in the lives of new people as well. Those dark moments were teaching times, moments of introspection as well as retrospection. For those times I am thankful. We are constantly evolving, never fully complete always growing.
This Thanksgiving week I have the opportunity to look back on a year of growth. Tonight Brittany handed me the date of her High School graduation, her early graduation. Tonight I had a conversation with a typical competition cheer coach about Heather Riley actually competing in January with the other girls, I look at my grown girls and I know they are on the paths to becoming adults that will make a difference in the lives of those they touch in the world. They are all four beautiful young women, with pure hearts. I am thankful God has allowed me to be their mother.
I am thankful for the amazing friends I have in my life, those far and near. Both old and new. Over the last year I have gained at least one new friendship that I cherish more than this person may realize. Friendship is a vital part of the human condition. I let very few people into my life, I talk to many people on a casual basis, but very few on a personal level. I have marveled over the entrance of certain people into my life. This was one of those instances.
This Thanksgiving we turn to the Lord with praise for what is right, and ask for guidance in the other areas. This thanksgiving we are going to be quiet, just us at home. This year is a time for quiet reflection, a turkey and stuffing, some time on the couch just holding on to one another. Reminding each other of what is important.
Life and love.
Over the years I have come to the realization that I have very few needs in life. The girls too, the three of us are simple, while it is true there are things we enjoy in life, those are not things we require to be happy. The only thing we need is love, it doesn't matter where we live, or what we consume. We could eat rice and beans, as long as we are secure with love nothing else matters.
For this sense of security I am thankful.
There are so many things I am thankful for, I could continue, I could list things until the sun comes up, but I will stop. I encourage each of you to take time to think about the things you are thankful for, the relationships in your life that are meaningful, the people you love; Do those people know just how much they mean to you? Have you thanked the Lord for your blessings?
There is no time like the present to let them know.
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