Being thankful is good for you – and easier too!

Well, it has been quite a while since I posted to this blog. There are several reasons for that, but two stand out. First, I have been very busy with work, travelling her and there, coast to coast. I was at Fort Bragg with the 112^th Signals Battalion on the day that a Jihadi terrorist killed 14 of our bravest at Fort Hood.

The other reason is neither new nor difficult to convey. I started to write a few times in the last several weeks, but I always stopped because I could not settle on a single topic. We all know what it is like to have so much on our minds that we can’t think clearly about any one of them. I have had so many things on my mind lately; politics, family and things spiritual. Perhaps when we get that way it is time to simplify, to try to go back to the most important things in life. With only three days until Thanksgiving, what better time to just be grateful for all of God’s gifts? When we feel like so many “important” things are weighing on our minds, why not decide to concentrate on what is really important?

So, I’m going to list a few things that come to mind for which I am very grateful. Please add yours to the list.

I’m still thinking about the wonderful worship time that I experienced yesterday at the Park Plaza Church of Christ. I have found myself thinking so much lately about the blessings of being in the Body. God blesses us in countless ways, but no blessing He gives us is more fulfilling, more surprising, or more nurturing than being part of the Body of Christ. When Paul admonished us not to forsake the assembling of ourselves together”, he knew what blessings we would miss by doing so.

In spite of all that has gone on and may still happen in America, I am still so thankful to be an American. Freedom is a precious gift from God and I plan to go on discovering it, talking about it, and defending it.

To say that I am thankful for my family is to risk understating my gratitude. God has given me a drop dead gorgeous, loving and devoted wife. My only complaint is that she makes it so difficult not to be jealous of her. She snuck into the “talents” line twice while God wasn’t looking! I have been amazed and proud to watch my oldest daughter Kristin become a wife and mother. She is really only getting started, but she loves my grandson Joel and her husband Travis. My son Jerod is proof that you should not judge a book by its cover. On the outside he is quiet and unassuming, even unimposing. But on the inside beats the heart of a lion and a patriot – as he has proven on the battlefield in Iraq. It seems that God has purposed him to be a shield unto others. I am proud of him beyond my ability to express. My youngest, Madeline, is both the most like me and the least like me. She is like me in that she is passionate and outspoken. She differs from me in how and where she manifests those God-given gifts. She is only beginning to discover how God will use her, and we are both trying to let God lead. She does not settle for less than the best from herself, and God uses people like that.

There are so many other things for which I am thankful. My challenge is to remember them more often. It’s funny how spending time listing the many ways that God has blessed me leaves less time for worry and idleness.

I’m thankful for that too!

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