Giving Thanks...

Where has November gone? It seems like just yesterday the month was beginning and now Thanksgiving approaches. Most of the trees in my yard are nearly bare, though the lovely Japanese maple is clinging to her leaves which turned color only recently, setting the side yard aflame with an incredible red fire.

As I sit here contemplating the week ahead, I am filled with gratitude, perhaps more than ever before...and I am giving thanks for so very many things. First, I am incredibly thankful that my sister, Kathy, will be celebrating her birthday this week, after a long and challenging summer of surgery and chemotherapy. Her voice over the phone sounds so hope-filled and positive and I surround her with love and light and prayers each day, that there may be many, many more birthdays ahead for her.

Then, of course, I am thankful for my three children and nine grandchildren, such unique individuals and yet, collectively, a delightful conglomeration of faces and personalities and talents which fill my heart with delight and pride and thankfulness for their amazing presence in my life.

Thanks would be incomplete without remembering my friends, near and far- some very, very far indeed. Their faces create a lovely palette of many hues and features, their personalities each so uniquely special, and my life is made so much richer because of them, every one.

This year, I am thankful for my job at Trinity Glen, something which sort of fell into my lap and which has grown on me during the months of 2012. The residents and staff have become increasingly dear to me and I feel- at long last- an integral part of things there, my role and ministry significant and meaningful.

And I am thankful, daily, for my continuing good health. At nearly seventy-one, this is not something I take for granted any longer. I am exceedingly grateful for each new day, even those which bring some aches and pains. I am alive, I can think and feel and DO...
and for this great blessing, I offer heartfelt thanks.

Then there are those things which we most often take for granted but which so many people on our diversified earth do not have: sufficient food to eat, a warm and comfortable and safe place to live, a car to get me where I need to go; hot, running water whenever I want it as well as the luxury of indoor plumbing; an automatic washer and dryer and dishwasher. And I sit here typing on a computer with which I can stay in touch with the whole world. With all of these incredible gifts, how can I help be anything other than grateful?

If you are reading this, I am giving thanks for you, and I invite you to make your own "thankfulness list" this week. No matter how you know and experience the Divine, no matter what name you give to the force I call God, I hope you will take some time during this week of giving thanks to GIVE THANKS...and to reconnect with those you love and who love you. We all need each other, don't we? For without each other, life would lose much of its meaning and richness, its depth and breadth and wonder. So, Happy Thanksgiving, one and all. And remember- you are loved.
love, Linda