Thankful

As I write it is the week before Thanksgiving, and I am thinking about things for which I am thankful, and how hard it is to feel thankful when the brokenness of the world seems to be anything but a gift. I turn my attention from woes to gratitude.

I am thankful for my faith, which carries me through. I do get lonely, but I’m never alone.

I am thankful I had a husband who loved me and taught me what it was like to live with love. He made all the difference in my life.

I am thankful to have sons who grew up to be good men.

I am thankful to have a brilliant grand child who is teaching me things about life and the world that I never could have imagined. For my part, I am trying to teach picking up wet towels from the bathroom floor and other handy life skills.

I am thankful for the companionship of my dog, although I will note that at the moment she has abandoned me for the couch in the living room that is next to the baseboard heater. I think the dog is thankful for the warm couch.

I am thankful for the cat, who is affectionate and a real cat goofball. Right this minute he is being a furry purring neck warmer. He makes me laugh, especially when he watches the water flushing in the toilet and waits until it calms down before he steps down into the bowl and has a drink. I’m sure I’m not the only person with paw prints in the toilet bowl.

I am thankful for good friends – my soul sisters and brothers. You are so beautiful. You are the few, the proud, the extremely tolerant and patient. Thank you.

I am thankful for gifts I was given – a singing voice, a little writing ability – and that I am able to work with those gifts, and even have some fun with them and bring a little pleasure, a little laughter, to other people. Years ago I wrote a song with the lines, “Give yourself to your gift, bring your gift to the world. I won’t tell you that it’s easy, but anything else is much too hard.”

I read tonight of a woman in California who watched refugees on the news and saw so many of them carrying their children. So she started collecting baby carriers – slings, and backpacks, whatever people could donate that would allow refugees who are carrying everything they own to have a way to keep their children held securely as they traveled. She and some friends flew over and gave the baby carriers to refugees. I am thankful for that woman and the idea she had and the actions she and her friends took. She reminds me that if we do what we can do, it might not seem like much, but it is enough.

I am thankful for people who do what they can do. I ask myself, have I done what I can do? Have I done enough?
I am thankful that I am still here to ask those questions.

Today I pray for the healing of the world, and that I may do my part, and I say thanks - thanks for everything.
Thanks for reading.

Paged through one of Rick’s old notebooks, looking for a Thanksgiving illustration, and found it, and here it is. Happy Thanksgiving to you and yours.