Giving Thanks

A holiday.

For many a day off, and for many just another day at work.

It's the one day set aside each year to give thanks. A day of gathering and feast, a day of remembrance and the gift of family and friends. Gathering around the table with a lavish meal and enjoying treasured company. Laughter and singing, playing games or laying on the couch in a food coma.

And for some, it's a day of lonely and sad, struggling to find what to give thanks for. For some, it's a holiday being shared without their loved one for the first time, and for many it's a holiday that is dreaded because they have no one.

And then there were those who live in both scenarios. Those who have no family nearby and secretly struggle to find their place in the world. Who have the same need to belong, but never really feel like they fit in- "the fifth wheel" , the " holiday orphan" . The ones who cry a little inside when all of the couples show up and still manage to flash a stoic smile and crack the jokes. The ones who learn to fake it all year to make it through the proving ground of the holidays.

These are also ones who give thanks for things like sunrises, sunsets, flowers, pretty weeds, toilet paper and Carmex, coffee, dandelions, rainbows, rain, eyelashes and our advanced nervous system that makes us know who created us so that we give thanks to Him every day. He sees the broken-hearted and the lonely, the defeated and the downtrodden. He rescues those who wander off His path, and gives them testimony.

He breathed life into us all and our lungs speak Him with every breath.

“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God.” John‬ ‭1‬:‭1‬-‭2‬ ‭NKJV

He revealed Himself to me and then pulled me from the mud pit on March 7,2025 and then sent me on my way as a wholly changed person in Truth.

The One who was, who is and is to come.

"He who testifies to these things says,"Surely I am coming quickly. "Even so, come, Lord Jesus! The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you all. Amen." Revelation 22:20-21 NKJV

I am thankful every day for the opportunity of waking up and going out with a lantern filled with oil, to purposefully shine the Light in the dark places.