It's Thanksgiving

If you have good health, you are ahead of the game. If you have a good marriage with a loving spouse, then you are doubly blessed.

If you have teenagers who are your pride and joy, bow your head and give thanks this Thanksgiving season.

Yes, there are negatives in our lives, unfortunate circumstances that weigh us down from time to time.

That's part of life, like the seasons of the year.

M:y husband used to say, "Look at the big picture."

Sometimes I focus on the moment, a span, instead of pulling back and viewing the big picture.

When we do, life takes on a different meaning.

Life is not all roses. If you have reached adulthood, you have learned that lesson for yourself.

Life isn't a bride, wearing an apron, cooking Sunday dinner for the smiling Beaver family.

Neither is it what is portrayed on your daily soap operas.

Sometimes it's a struggle, especially during these hard economic times.

It's hard to give thanks when you've been given a pink slip at your job.

It's difficult when the doctor gives a dire report about a loved one.

But for a brief span, it's time to pause and give thanks for the blessings that we do have.

As Ralph Waldo Emerson wrote,

For each new morning with its light,

For rest and shelter of the night,

For health and food,

For love and friends,

For everything Thy goodness sends.

A friend recently returned from the squalor of a foreign country. She was appalled at the living conditions of the people there. They had no electricity, no running water, shacks constructed of rusted tin, throwaway boards. Entire families lived in those one room shanties in hot humid weather. When she returned to Clay County, she felt guilty at the abundance she has in her own home. She also felt blessed to live in these United States.

We have so much when many have so little.

Thanksgiving is a time for family, a gathering of loved ones.

It's a time for friendship and caring, for sharing with those less fortunate.

It's a time for giving thanks at community church services; to recognize God and country.

With the election behind us and the inauguration ahead, let's look to the future with renewed hope.

Let us pray that God will lead and direct our nation in the days ahead.

Happy Thanksgiving, people.