Giving Thanks

I am grateful for so much this day.

I woke to Mike in the kitchen making his famous and SO delicious stuffing. I checked a year ago and I don't believe I posted anything about Thanksgiving because Mike was busy falling down in the shower and trying to pass out from weakness just walking through the house. We were a month past the skin graft and still had so many unknowns in our lives. What a difference a year makes. Mike was so excited to be up and mobile this year and began planning his stuffing weeks ago. He's a MUCH better cook than I and I'm so thankful he makes the bulk of Thanksgiving dinner or we would be giving thanks for toilets and Tums after I get done. His stuffing is amazing and only made once a year so we can savor it, but I'm savoring so much more. Just his being alive I am savoring. We have come so far and I am grateful for healing, for God's mighty hand in our lives, transforming people that needed transforming, loving us along the way, teaching--always teaching. He is such a loving and gracious God. Our lives are a testament to that.

I'm grateful for a daughter and son-in-law, Katherine and Chad, that are growing and trying to find their way in the world, blazing their trails however they choose. Both so smart and talented and enjoying building their marriage, coming up on their second anniversary. I am so grateful for her friends that consider me a second mom and bless me with sharing their lives so I can watch them grow as they get older, delight in their victories and joys and try to comfort them in their times of tears.

I am grateful for Alison, the light God gave us that has shone brightly in some very dark years. She's literally kept us going and laughing and marveling and enjoying life through the eyes of this truly remarkable little girl. Just one more bit of proof to me that she is why He's God and I'm not because never in my life would I have dreamed up this surprise we weren't expecting. The past few years would have been so much darker and desperate without this life force we call Alison in our lives. She truly is a life force and brings life and smiles and lots of hugs everywhere she goes.

I am so grateful for the incredible abundance of friends I have. Heidi, my sister from another mister, my sister in Christ, my sister in arms. Love her so much. Amy, Gina, Nikki, Rachel, Michelle, Sherry, Liz, Tracy, Barbara Ann, Nora, Wendy Kimberly,....so many if I named them all here I'd be working through my turkey dinner. Many I have known for years, many I've never met face-to-face, but all have a special place in my life and my heart, and I am blessed to call them all my friends. Heaven is going to be BLISSFUL with my friends to spend eternity with.

I have to work today from 4-8 but I'm not upset because God always, ALWAYS brings someone through my line that either blesses me, or I'm able to bless THEM with a kind word or a praise to God. So what if businesses are open today? Capitalism is still alive and fighting to stay alive in America and if it means that they're open today, God bless America. We keep capitalism alive however we have to. That means there are people working and still able to put food on their family's table.

I am grateful for the flag that flies freely as a symbol of our freedom, and I am grateful for a Constitution that lays the foundation of our freedoms. I am grateful for the many men and women that volunteer to serve our country and die on foreign shores so we may have those freedoms set forth in the Constitution and the hearts of our founding fathers. They pay a price we cannot begin go fathom so we don't have to live a life we cannot begin to fathom. I am grateful for the people that continue to stand up and fight to keep our country free, whatever the cost, for the First Amendment that keeps those voices loud and heard. I am thankful for voices that refuse to be stilled or quieted so evil cannot completely destroy what was begun in the hearts and minds of God-fearing men that saw possibility on our shores over two centuries ago, not the rule and oppression that they fled from.

I am grateful for churches with open doors because God and men won't allow them to be shuttered. I am grateful for the Bible and the gospel that many bravely share, sometimes at the top of their lungs while standing on a box on a street corner, or quietly in a home or pulpit with the faithful gathered around. I am grateful for the men and women that literally give their lives to spread the gospel around the world putting on the full armor of God (Ephesians 6) to take Jesus to the lost and hurting in the darkest and furthest corners of the world. I am grateful for pastors that are sticking true to the word of God and not straying into gospel that tickles the itching ears of the lazy or corrupt. I am grateful for God's word that never changes or returns void to the heart that sent the words out. I am grateful for the faithful and loving that reach out to the lost and lonely to share God's love and pray for them to add their number of saved to the folds of His robe. I am grateful for PRAYER, our conduit to talk to God, our means of lifting people to him for blessing, our line of peace that allows Him to speak to our hearts. More problems and mysteries would disappear if more heads were bowed in prayer and submission than noses pointed haughtily in the air in pride and defiance.

Take the time to today to pray for someone that is enduring a rough time in their life, for love lost, for life stilled, for job taken away, for housing, for a pet that is suffering or gone, for a child that has been sick or strayed or gone Home ahead of a parent, for a marriage that has disintegrated or hit a speed bump. Give freely of your heart, your time, and if you have any spare, your dollars. If you see a Salvation Army bell ringer, buy them a cup of hot chocolate or coffee and say a prayer with them. I've done both and believe me, it sustains them. Give happily with a joyful heart and drop that dollar into the bucket with a prayer that it blesses someone in need.

Enjoy this day and take time to thank Him for what He has given you. Put down your list of "wants" and look over your list of "haves" and you will see, I'm sure, that the list of "haves" is far longer than your list of "wants" and probably much happier, too. I pray you use this day for true "thanksgiving" and take the time to thank Him from whom your blessings flow.

Seasons

Today I am grateful for the changing seasons. 

Fall is so beautiful here, bright colored leaves, crisp air, apples and pumpkins and the smell of smoke in the air from wood stoves and fireplaces.  All the seasons are so symbolic of God's love for us, he loves us so much that He not only gave us His Son, but the seasons are a moving display of His majesty and creation.

Summer is warm and active, we work hard outside and enjoy the evenings as they cool down and we can watch the beauty of the stars.  Clear days watching the ocean waters come in and go out, hiking in the mountains, walking alongside cool streams, fishing, swimming, driving along beautiful country roads.  It reminds me of Christ walking along the streets of Jerusalem with the disciples, the Sermon on the Mount, feeding the crowds, sailing on the sea with the disciples, touching those that needed to feel the hand of God to be healed and were forgiven of their sins.  Summer to me is the fullness of life that Christ had while He walked among the people.

Fall, life is winding down, the trees are shedding the leaves that have kept us cool in breezes, cooled our homes, animals scurry to put food away for the winter, we break down our outdoor lives and put it all away, and if we're smart, we bundle up, strike a fire, and enjoy the cool nights and leaves floating around.  Fall is my favorite time.  It's like the world is winding down for a long nap.  It's that time between putting your child to bed and when they actually go to sleep.  The end of fall reminds me of Christ carrying his cross along the Via Dolorosa (Latin,"Way of Grief", "Way of Sorrows", "Way of Suffering" or simply "Painful Way"), then on up to Golgotha, the hill on which his cross was placed as he was crucified.  We put the world to rest in the fall, as He prepared to spend three days in the tomb.

Winter is cold.  If you live here in the Pacific Northwest, it's dark and rainy, it can be dreary, but that's why I think our falls and springs are so beautiful.  We know what was, we know what is coming.  In Colorado the days are bright and crisp and the cold sucks the air out of you on really cold days and then with the snap of a finger, you can have 18 inches of snow in the ground.  Crystal powdery flakes that shimmer and sparkle, like God dumped millions upon millions of diamonds over everything.  Winter for me reminds me of the the three days that Christ lay in the tomb, conquering death and hell and was preparing to rise again.

Spring.  Bursting forth with flowers, buds on trees, cool mornings, chilly evenings, rain showers, beautiful billowing clouds and fluffy displays of afternoon sunlight after a rainstorm.  April in Oregon is wonderful.  The new flowers bursting up and new leaves bursting out on the limbs are symbolic to me of Christ coming out of the tomb and bringing His beauty with Him.  The newness of growth is the growth of Christ in us as we celebrate His resurrection and victory over the death of winter. 

God gave us the seasons to enjoy His masterful, artful hand, to savor His creation, and to see His Son and life as Christ lived.  I'm SO grateful for the beautiful seasons!

Control

We have a ginormous yard with lots of old trees in the back and two VERY industrious little squirrels in ot.  There is a walnut tree in the back neighbor's property and branches from it cover our yard and we get to keep the walnuts that fall from it every year--unless Squirrel 1 and Squirrel 2 beat me to them.  It's a race every year. 

I'm sitting here at the window working on the book and out of the corner of my eye I see one of them on the patio searching.  Always searching.  He's always on the lookout for anything he can, pardon the pun, squirrel away for winter.  Here it is early November and he's still out looking.  At this point hope springs eternal.

Seeing him still searching for provision to keep the family fed I was sadly reminded of a sizable contingent of our society (and don't anyone get panties in a wad because I'm not talking about those that have been laid off or are truly hard workers) that are content to allow others to do the hard work so they can collect a welfare check or add one more child to the food stamp rolls.  Even a squirrel in this country is willing to work harder for his food than some Americans.  There's no one there to hand him Obamamoney or an Obamaphone or Obamacare. 

But they can be trained to become THAT dependent.  My great grandmother and great great grandmother lived with my dad as he was growing up and they would sit for hours on the back porch feeding the squirrels peanuts while they sewed by hand the beautiful wedding ring quilt top that I now have.  The squirrels became quite tame and never missed a day when all they had to do was show up and peanuts would be tossed their way.  Had these two women not been there the squirrels would have had to go out and forage for food to survive.  Much like the squirrels that got spoiled by two little old women, that sizable contingent in our society showed up one day and someone began throwing bites their way.  Checks.  Food stamps.  Anything and everything the people could toss their way to keep them coming back.  The squirrels were controlled by the peanuts tossed their direction.  The people kept coming back and have become controlled by the things someone tosses their direction.

When you get right down to it, control is not hard to create when you have something someone wants but becomes too lazy to go out and work for.