Thanksgiving

While it is always important to count your blessings year-round, this day is designated for giving thanks. These are the things that I am thankful for:

* My husband - my best friend who is so loving, who helps me to be the best version of me, who shows me what unconditional love looks like.

* My family - I have many many people that I feel blessed to call family that I am thankful to for so many reasons (and I mean it, I couldn't be where I am without these people)

* My girlfriends - whom I adore and who give me support, love and joy

* My life - while not perfect, it is pretty hard to complain about

I feel so very blessed, I have people who love me and everything I need. God has blessed me in so many ways, I am so thankful for my life.

Psalm 138:
I will give You thanks with all my heart;
I will sing praises to You before the gods.
I will bow down toward Your holy temple
And give thanks to Your name for Your lovingkindness and Your truth;
For You have magnified Your word according to all Your name.
On the day I called, You answered me;
You made me bold with strength in my soul.
All the kings of the earth will give thanks to You, O LORD,
When they have heard the words of Your mouth.
And they will sing of the ways of the LORD,
For great is the glory of the LORD.
For though the LORD is exalted,
Yet He regards the lowly,
But the haughty He knows from afar.
Though I walk in the midst of trouble, You will revive me;
You will stretch forth Your hand against the wrath of my enemies,
And Your right hand will save me.
The LORD will accomplish what concerns me;
Your lovingkindness, O LORD, is everlasting;
Do not forsake the works of Your hands.

Children show us joy

Kids are God's way of helping us to remember hope and joy, I'm convinced of it. I've been working with kids for awhile now, as a substitute teacher, and while certainly there are kids who try my nerves, I always can see joy in them.

The problem with becoming an adult is that we lose that, kids still have that spark in their eyes. No matter how bad the day has been, as they run down the sidewalk for recess I can see that unbridled joy. There is something to rejoice about, even if it is only the twenty minutes of freedom they get to enjoy.

It’s a blessing that God gives us children so that we might remember; so that we might see joy and hope. As adults we are so damaged, and I desire so much to have that joy and hope that I see in these children every day. Where has it gone to and how can I get it back?

Sometimes my faith feels like head knowledge, I can’t feel it. I know we all go through those times, I can rationalize it in my mind but my spirit feels defeated. I am so glad for the children I encounter because they give me hope that this joy will come back to me. They help me remember that it exists.

A prayer for our President Elect

Holy God, be with Barack Obama and his family even now at this moment. Enable our 44th president to lead this country with integrity and wisdom. Grant him peace at this time as he prepares for this next step in life.

Great God, be with this country as we move into transistion, be with the people in this nation that we might come together for the good of our neighbors and fellow citizens.

Guide us that we might be loving, graceful and wise in our dealings politically and otherwise.

Amen

The Love of God

When in despair, it helps to sing the hymns, this is "The Love of God" by Frederick Lehman:

The love of God is greater far
Than tongue or pen can ever tell;
It goes beyond the highest star,
And reaches to the lowest hell;
The guilty pair, bowed down with care,
God gave His Son to win;
His erring child He reconciled,
And pardoned from his sin.

O love of God, how rich and pure!
How measureless and strong!
It shall forevermore endure
The saints’ and angels’ song.

When years of time shall pass away,
And earthly thrones and kingdoms fall,
When men, who here refuse to pray,
On rocks and hills and mountains call,
God’s love so sure, shall still endure,
All measureless and strong;
Redeeming grace to Adam’s race—
The saints’ and angels’ song.


Could we with ink the ocean fill,
And were the skies of parchment made,
Were every stalk on earth a quill,
And every man a scribe by trade,
To write the love of God above,
Would drain the ocean dry.
Nor could the scroll contain the whole,
Though stretched from sky to sky.

O love of God, how rich and pure!
How measureless and strong!
It shall forevermore endure
The saints’ and angels’ song.