On the eve of Thanksgiving, I am sipping egg nog. It’s not really cold enough, but I’m in the mood. As we drove home from church tonight, after our Thanksgiving service, we zig-zagged around and looked at houses that already had lights up. Its fresh and fun and suprising every year, thanks to my children. My hubby is still working on mine….I’d say they are half-strung. He says he needs to go to the store for more parts…..
Going to church the evening before Thanksgiving is wonderful. It sets the tone for the holiday. It would be tempting to move into Christmas music and shopping early but because of a beautiful pause tonight, from 7 to 8 pm, I can instead focus on being thankful for a day or two. I want to be thankful every day, and for the most part I think I am….but its amazing how swiftly a thankful heart can become a jealous one, or a fearful one. It is a concious choice, to be thankful. I choose to be thankful.
I am thankful for my good days and my hard ones. I am thankful for the easy seasons, and the stormy days. I am thankful because God is in all of it. I am thankful that I’ve spent years longing for, praying for, begging for another child to adopt….and now that we are moving in that direction, I am thankful that God can provide peace in the center of uncertainty. He is just so able….so able to do much more than I can ask or dream….and for that I am supremely thankful.
I am thankful for friends who have travelled these paths before me, and their willingness to encourage, pray, give hugs and stay interested in our crazy life. I am thankful for the nay-sayer relatives and friends who doubt and question everything….because they help me to know where my certainty stands and where it wavers….and its good to check that once in awhile.
I am so thankful that God set me in a family. He wouldn’t have had to. He could have put me among the millions of orphans….but he didn’t. I have family and I also get to build a family. Thankful.
May this Thanksgiving, 2012 bring a long and detailed list of thankfulness to each of you, and may God be given all the glory. Have a great holiday everyone.
