giving thanks

Most days me and THE MAN (upstairs) are on the outs. But on Thanksgiving we are like most families and we put our differences aside for the day. Today I will talk and He will listen. It will go something like this:

Our Father in heaven

Thank You for all I have and help me remember that what I have not is not important.

Thank You for my husband who is still my sweetheart and who works hard to take care of his family.

Thank You that he is the best dad ever.

Thank You for my wonderful daughters and my adorable grandson. Please be with and watch over my oldest while she is so far from me serving our country. Thank You for bringing her out of war safely but she is still too far for me to hold. Please hug her for me.

Thank You for my grandson and be with him while he tries to make sense of the changes in his life. Thank You for giving me a year with him. Thank You for his father who finally stepped up and for his step-mother who loves him so much and will help to keep him in touch with his mother and his me-maw who are so far from him. Please give them the patience and the guidance needed to help our little one.

Thank You for my college student. She is still my angel even if she grew up and moved out, the one most like me. Thank You that even if she is like me, she is not following in my footsteps. Please keep her safe and motivated. (And thank You that she chose such a nice, small college and for helping us pay for it)

Thank you for my teenager. She is a wonderful, smart and talented girl who works hard in school and sports and doesn't look for trouble. Thank you that we do not fight much and help me to give her the freedom a teenager needs to grow while still giving her the guidance and structure she needs to keep her safe.

Thank You for my mom who is still my mom when I need a mom and a friend the rest of the time, for my sister who went from my youthful enemy to my best friend, for bringing her a man to love her and remind her that all guys are not jerks, for my brother and his wife and children, for the rest of my family and friends who are the best any could ask for. There is not a one who would not do all they could to help a friend or a neighbor. You put Your best work here by me. Thank You.

Amen

These are my blessings and nothing else matters. 

There is more I truly am grateful for but that usually runs like this (Though I struggle to juggle the bills, I thank you that somehow they all get paid. I thank you that my husband has a job he likes and pray one day they realize he gives them more work than they give him pay.. etc) So I just skip all that because today is not about the qualifiers, the things we are glad we have but wish we had better. 

Today is the day to just rest in what we have, to be happy and enjoy our blessings and remember not what we don't have but that there are many who don't have the love and the family and the full tables we have today. Today is a day to thank God and not to ask God for more