I Am THANKFUL

Joyful, Joyful --- God I adore you.

This is the day that the Lord has made. Let us rejoice and be glad in it. My mother and my grandmother--both gone--said this often. They loved God and not just because they believed they, too, were loved by God, but that they laid joy at God's feet. God was who they thanked and God's love was what they both rejoiced in.
     I stop this morning as we prepare for Thanksgiving gatherings. There will be more than one as I attempt the impossible--seeing everyone while I'm in Houston for a short period. I may not get to everyone, but I will give it the ol' college try. My friends, my family are all so important to me and when I think of what I am thankful for, I am definitely thankful about them--each one of them. It is an awesome gift when someone loves you, warts and all, and accepts you for who you are, and sees you as you are. When I doubt myself, I look into a loved one's eyes and see all of my possibilities. I feel the love, I know that I am forgiven (like when I don't get to everyone) and know that love will never be denied.
     I am also thankful for the gifts of my ancestors, which include my parents and even my granddaughter. They have gone before me and have entered the realm of my past, but also my present and future. Today they remind me to be vigilant and to keep moving toward the stars. They let me know that my dreams are my possibilities and to never stop dreaming. They remind me to take time to just be with God and gain my strength in God's presence. The remind me that they love me still and that love doesn't cease upon death.
     I am thankful for my children. I guess I didn't do such a bad job, but I know that they came through me, but not from me. I see their dreams being fulfilled, their adulthood representing my commitment and am thankful that we got here. Right here, where my grandchildren are thriving and the hope that I lived with while nurturing and caring for them has been realized.
     I am thankful for the bad times. The lessons are still coming and while my goal is to pass the tests presented to me, my mission is to be ready for the next and the next. What constitutes bad times? Bad times come when I doubt, resist, need to learn, or need to understand. Someone called the bad times 'lessons.' Those lessons are not always easy and sometimes quite painful, but I am thankful for them. Would I know what joy is had I not tasted sorrow? Would I be able to forgive, had I not been forgiven? Some call the bad times the rain, "It rains on the just and unjust." I call the bad times simply another day.
     Today, I have the opportunity to care and to love. Today, I have the opportunity to serve. Today, I have yet another opportunity to live with the fruits of God's gifts--God's people, And for this, I am so thankful. Be thankful with me. God bless.