With a Thankful Heart

     This is Thanksgiving week and I am so very blessed.  God has been good to me and very generous in so many ways.  I am thankful for my faith, for Jesus Christ as my Savior who went to the cross for me.  I am thankful for my family: my husband, children, grand babies, extended family and church family.  I am blessed with material goods and plenty to eat, a home to live in and more than I deserve.  I am also thankful for the ability to put words and thoughts on paper which I pray are encouraging and a blessing to others.  Additionally I am thankful for friends and this is where my focus will rest, for the remainder of my thoughts.

     There are plenty of beautiful quotes about friendship from which I could choose.  The truth is, however, I prefer to say simply, my cup overflows with people in my life who hold me in their hearts with support and encouragement, in a variety of different levels of shameless love.  

     Friendship is a bond which requires an exchange of emotion, and if left to grow can become a tribute to a very special kind of relationship.  There are those who I don't know well, yet find we have a particular exquisite connection.   While there are others whom I have known a very long time, and also find we share a very special, enduring relationship.  Sometimes people come into your life who leave a memorable mark on your life even though they are there for only a season.

     I completely believe God places people in our lives that we really need at a given time, or we are placed in someone's life to meet a need.  I have been on both sides of the fence, and I am grateful for both circumstances. 

     I saw this quote recently and couldn’t help but smile:  “It's not what you gather, but what you scatter that tells what kind of life you have lived.” -Helen Walton.   How true this is.  All our worldly goods will one day be gone.  When we leave this life we take nothing with us but what we leave behind is so very important.  That old expression, “you reap what you sow,” follows us even after we are gone.

     Do you ever ask yourself, “How will people remember me when I’m gone?”  Have you sown the seeds of true friendship?  Do people want to be around you?  Are you a good neighbor?  Do you look for the good in a person before noting any bad?   Do you try to please and think of your friend’s need?  Do you attempt, if you have the means, to meet the need of your friend?

     This list of questions could go on forever.  I’d like to think when I offer kindness, it will be returned.  I’m hopeful when I pass from this world people will smile and think of me as being kind; as being a friend who was honest, loyal and committed to each friendship in which I find myself.

     I want to conclude these thoughts by adding an important element in my life for which I am grateful, largely due to my writing.  For each person who reads my work, whether I know you outside my writing circle or not, I am thankful for you.  Because of you, my friend, and God’s grace, I can share a little piece of who I am each week through my blog or through larger bodies of work.  Thank you for the opportunity to express myself this way.  You give my life purpose and meaning.  I am extremely grateful.

     I wish each of you a wonderful, blessed, Happy Thanksgiving!

(The picture included comes from a church service my husband and I attended Sunday evening where the congregation was invited to light a candle for something for which they were thankful.  This is just the table.  There were a good many more!)