GIVING THANKS

Sometimes content-ment just tickles at your heart while other times, gratitude fills its every nook and cranny. My heart is overflowing today. I have good reasons--some are life affirming and mind-alteringly huge--some are small . . . the kind we generally tend to breathe a breath of relief over and then forget as we move on to the next detail of our life. Although who, besides God, really knows what blessing or goodness is small in the eternal scheme of things?

But today, even those smaller, less attention grabbing things are with me, making my throat tight, causing my eyes to sting a little, making me bite my lips a little just so I can write this.

I know people--wonderful, exquisite people--who are struggling this holiday with things beyond their control and through no fault of their own. I'm sure you do too. Why some of us get to walk a smoother path while others travail over rocky terrain has baffled bards and philosophers since time began. Why do some prosper and some suffer? Why some are healed when some wane? Why do some experience bountiful love while others' hearts are parched for the lack of it?

Believers in Christ hold fast to eternal promises, knowing that all things can and will work for our good if we have faith. But a toll is required each time we are blessed with the temporary privilege of walking life's easy road. Paths diverge, and at any moment ours could become the rock-strewn trail.

So I'm trying to get everything ready for our Christmas early to clear the usual holiday prep-panic from my ears and mind so I can better tune to the needs of others. I want this to be a different Christmas--a Gratitude Christmas where today's thankful attitude spills over for a long, long time. I want to be the hands and eyes and ears that do what's needed when it's needful. I want to hold fast to this for as long as I'm able.

I wish the same for each of us, and I hope it begins with a wondrous, joyous Thanksgiving.