Thanks Be To God

This is the time of year when we are filled with thoughts of thanksgiving. We have so many things to be thankful for, so many blessings for which a prayer of gratitude is appropriate.

What are you thankful for? Your family? Your home? Your health? Counting our blessings may prove too formidable a task, but still, naming things we are thankful for is a wonderful exercise to do all year round. Here are just some of the things that are on my list:

I am thankful for my family: for my wife, my sisters, aunts, uncles and cousins. I am thankful for wonderful friends, many scattered in far distant lands. I am thankful for good health, my home, for having food and clothing.

I am thankful for the colors of the rainbow, colors created by God to give us beauty. I am thankful for the magnificent colors that come with autumn. I am thankful for the rains that refresh the earth and wash things clean. I am thankful for the squirrels, whose antics seem so amusing this time of year as they prepare themselves for winter.

I am thankful for men and women who have been called to serve: called to serve as firefighters; police officers; utility workers who restore power even in the worst weather; men and women who endure heat, cold, loneliness, and fear as they serve in our military. I am thankful for men and women who serve in hospitals, in every capacity, twenty-fours a day, to care for others.

I am thankful for our church as we close our 140^th year and look to our 141^st year filled with such promise and hope. I am thankful for the wonderful staff I work with each day. I am thankful for our special ministry in the Early Learning Center and the staff and teachers who embrace each child we welcome each day with warmth and love.

I am thankful for the season that lies before us, the season of Advent, a time of watching and waiting. I am thankful for those who have written so many wonderful hymns and carols that help us to focus on the coming of our Lord. I am thankful for the talents of countless artists who have captured that radiant, peace-filled scene of the birth of our Lord in so many ways to bring us the mystery and the hope of God with us.

This is my list today. It may be different tomorrow, and different yet again the day after that. But one thing will remain the same each day: my gratitude to God. The Psalmist said it so many times with good reason, “O give thanks to the Lord.” And so I will, and not just in November, but every day.

Grace & peace,

Pastor Skip