This is Thanksgiving Day 2016. Traditionally, many will be gathering with family and friends today to eat, celebrate, fellowship and give thanks for all that their creator has blessed them to enjoy. Unfortunately, there will be many also who will not be able to recognize much of anything for which they are thankful. Whatever the individual circumstances, this is a day our nation has set aside to give thanks. I rose this morning with a sense of thankfulness like I’ve not had before. I can’t say it’s because there have been any particular blessings that have come my way this year. I can say, however, that I found myself more mindful of all I’ve been given in this life.
I went to bed last night; not sure I would get up and exercise as I normally do. My routine includes an hour ride on my bicycle, a workout on the weights, and some stretching. I was a bit tired last night. I also knew that I would get up this morning and finish cooking our Thanksgiving Day meal that I started last night. I’ve been feeling tired more normal than usual the last month, so I figured last night that I would only be motivated to get out of bed and finish cooking.
Amazingly, I woke this morning early, 5:30, with plenty energy. With this amount of energy, I had to expend some of it on the bicycle. I completed my hour-long ride and some work on the weights to top it off. I’ve just about finished preparing the meal, as I captured a few minutes to key some musings at my laptop. There’s an old saying many people of faith use regularly, “God is good.” There’s also a comeback to that phrase that’s also commonly used, “And He’s good all the time.” Both of those expressions are somewhat minimal in their ability to capture the full picture of just how great God is. But, that’s true of just about any utterance we might usher forth to describe God. We are finite creatures, with equal abilities to describe to omnipotence of God.
I think I’m feeling, as close as possible, the complete blessings of God on my life this day. I think this is an experience that is prone to come with old age. Being sixty-six and going through all that I’ve gone through, it’s next to impossible to not feel the full effect of God’s handiwork on your life. I have three children, four grandchildren and one great grandchild. This morning, I found myself thinking about the loving wife God blessed me with almost thirty-one years ago; this was the beginning in large part of my nuclear family. I love them all. I don’t love them because they’re perfect. If perfection were an attribute that motivated me to love them, loving them would still be missing in my inventory of emotions. I love them because they are all gifts from God. They are all a part of a whole that gives me a sense of belonging to something larger and greater than myself. I want this love, this fondness to grow even stronger. I haven’t as many days to go as I did ten, twenty, thirty years and more to ago. I want dearly for the remaining ones to be closet to wonderful as anyone can have.
Yes, I am feeling especially thankful on this Thanksgiving Day. I hope my spreading just a little taste of my thankfulness, and why I’m so thankful tells you why.
I’m old and blessed…hope you will be too.
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