Thankful..............

November 28, 2014, 4:15 am

Most people get up early on this day to stand in lines waiting for doors to open at stores so they can rush in and compete with others to get the best prices EVER.....that is until that same items goes on sale again right before Christmas....never noticed that huh?  Learned that a few years back when I did the same insane thing and then found the item closer to Christmas for a CHEAPER price!!  I guess it's all about making sure you get it and all that..........But, not me.  I'm up this early almost EVERY morning to be a member of the Dark Club called "insomnia".  Insomnia found me a few years ago and hasn't left my side since.  If I could find away to get rid of the pesky little varmint, believe me I would.  Beauty sleep is no longer a term in my vocabulary.....of course, graceful aging also has to be a part of that beauty thing.  My life is full of grace and mercy from my Lord Jesus Christ, but I could hardly be identified as aging "gracefully".

This month of November has been designated the month of "Thankfulness".  I know a lot of people have posted daily "Thankful" thoughts and that's a good thing.....it makes us reflect on all those good things we have in our lives that we recognize and appreciate.....not just at this time of year, but year round.  I don't usually participate in that.  I don't know why really.....probably because I'm not good at keeping up with things that have to be done daily....I get busy, forget, don't post and then have to catch up several days.

So, I thought about it and thought while I can't sleep, I will sit here and reflect on all the things for which I am thankful...
1.  I am thankful for a God who loved my sorry, sinful self enough to send His son to earth to die on a cruel and undeserved cross for my sins so that I might have the gift of salvation if I so choose....and I do...willingly, gladly, joyously, thankfully, obediently.....
2.  I am thankful for a husband of almost 45 years who would tell you that I am hard to live with, unlovable a LOT of the time, full of faults, struggle with insecurities, tend to let my mouth lead my brain, don't make him dinner as often as he'd like, don't keep his house as clean as he'd like, drive him crazy with my little stupid idioscyncracies........but yet he loves me unconditionally, warts and all and ours is a great love story with dips and valleys and turns and twists....just like every good love story.  No, I'm no Cinderella......but he's still my Prince Charming....
3.  I am thankful God gave me two beautiful girls to love and cherish and rock as babies and try to mold as they grew - however inadequate I was - and watch go through all the stages of childhood to adulthood.....with all it's joy and pain and grow into two lovely, compassionate, tender-hearted and Godly young women.  They have made my life fuller and richer and I would have not missed ONE MINUTE of it for every piece of gold on earth.  And I'm thankful for my two smart, talented, funny, loveable, beautiful, handsome and personable grandchildren that God gave me through my daughter Melissa and my wonderful son-in-law Tim.  I could fill up pages and pages with good comments about them, but you would tire and say that I was obsessed....which isn't every Grandmother????
4.  I'm thankful God gave me an abundance of good friends and family......some very special ones who have stood by me through illness, waited with me when the news might not be good, cried with me when it wasn't, rejoiced with me when it was, stood in the gap for me in prayer when the words would not come to me, loved my family as their own, held me up when I couldn't take one more step and been in my corner - even when it wasn't the "popular" thing to do.
5.  I'm thankful to God that I was born into a country that was free and remains so today because there are fine individuals out there who DAILY put their lives on the line for the likes of me to protect my freedom.  I thankful to each and every one of them - past, present, future.......

These are just a few, but are the most important ones to me.

Life is short.....I learned that painful lesson early in my life and have continued to have it reinforced over and over again.  God put us here for a reason....not just to occupy a certain dimension of space, but to be productive and impact our world for Him as much as is possible for each of us.  One of my favorite songs says "Take your candle....and go light YOUR world".  If each of us, me first, would do this, that light just might shine a little bit past our world and light the world of someone else also!

So, Happy Thanksgiving Month, Year, Life...............

What is God's will for us in this life?  It's simple really.......

¹⁶ Rejoice always, ¹⁷ pray without ceasing, ¹⁸ give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you. - I Thess. 16-18.

Simple.........or is it??...................