i wanna stop and thank you . . .

Thanksgiving weekend is here. . different people celebrate it on different days, (we celebrate on Thanksgiving Monday). When I think of thanksgiving. . i thank God. When we say thank you we have to say it to someone, right? So I say it to Him. I recognize His giving to me and I direct my thanks to Him. I've always been puzzled that people will find it important to be thankful. . but to whom are they thankful? there has to be a direction to go with your thanks, there has to be a hand that gives in order for you to say 'thanks'.

I'm also thankful to farmers, they keep us alive. . no way around that. If not for their toil, their work, their knowledge -- we'd all starve.
I'm thankful for truckers and freighter captains and pilots -- they keep us alive too! Without them bringing all of our stuff to our stores what would we do?? I'm thankful for employers, without them we'd have no jobs! how would we live without income? I'm thankful for government (even though we Canadians are very critical of our system -- the thought of no system is frightening) I'm grateful for our country. . . i love this corner of the world. . i really do. Its beautiful and spacious, its free from tyranny and its so good to be able to call it home. I'm thankful law and order - anarchy and chaos sucks. I'm thankful for people -- there are so many people who mean so much -- i'm thankful for their lives and their love, their acts of kindness and their generosity. What would life be like without others to live alongside of? I'm thankful for the world and its wonders. What can i say about it? Its gorgeous, even under our mismanagement, its beautiful and stunning and full of the elements of life for us. Where else could we live but here? (I'm not picturing us colonizing Mars any time soon! though there is silly talk of it). Where else could we live? I'm thankful for really basic, elemental things like air, water, earth, fire. I'm thankful for things I can't see, like atoms, molecules, etc. I'm thankful for galaxies and constellations. . thankful for our furnace-like sun/star; without which we would be frozen solid and for the moon which pulls our tides and helps us to mark time and looks great when its full and bright . I'm thankful for animals and plants and the food chain! Geez. . . when i start thinking of all the things there are to be grateful for, where do i stop?

I thank God for it all. . . cuz I think He's behind it all. I'm thankful for great music and great smells and great feelings and great tastes and greatness in general! Little things and big things. . .I'm counting all those blessings. . My friend Peta often reminds me to count my blessings - especially when things aren't going so well. She's wise to remind me and I always appreciate the reminder. I even thank God for adversity, which really does grow character and test and refine me. I don't thank Him for bad stuff, but I thank Him for how He can help me when I'm knee deep, even neck deep in it.

I'm grateful to be able to feast and celebrate. . but I'm torn because I read of disastrous quakes that snatch away people's lives. . and I watch destructive weather systems that wreak billions of dollars worth of damage - flattening communities, bringing instant poverty to untold numbers of people just like me. Why do i escape this? Why am i okay, while others go through misery? I guess the thing is we all have our turn - nobody's immune.

So tomorrow I will cook a lot of food, I will serve it to my family and I will enjoy every bite of it, I will be grateful for the people I share my life with and most of all I will remember to thank God for all the ways He gives and gives and gives again. . He's awesome and that's a fact. I write this to say "thank you" to Him and I also write it to say " thank you" to all of you for reading my thoughts and for all your interactions with me since I've started this blog. You are also awesome and that's another fact. I feel very mushy and full of joy! I guess that's a side effect of counting my blessings!?

HAPPY THANKSGIVING!!! and if you don't celebrate Thanksgiving in your country or if you do and its at a different time of the year. . . take a moment to feel gratitude and count your own blessings. . you'll feel better for it.