Opinion : Stop and say \'Thanks!\'

Tomorrow is Thanksgiving, and today is spent frantically preparing for it.

The grocery store is crowded in preparation for the huge feasts we pile on our tables.

Families prepare to travel or have begun to travel.

Kids are counting the minutes left in the school day.

All for the big day that is the day before Black Friday when stores pull out all the stops and help us kick off Christmas.

Sometimes I think we really forget the whole purpose of Thanksgiving.

It's not supposed to be a simple "family day", but a day to stop and be thankful.

In our rush through life, it seems we forget to slow down and really appreciate the good things we have.

Take some time to reflect on the blessings you've had this past year. The family you are blessed to have been born into. The friends you are privileged to have in your life.

For those of us that enjoy our jobs, be thankful for them.

For the home you live in, the car however old or new it is, the children or grandchildren, the things like sunrises and sunsets.

I'm always amazed at something as beautiful as a sunset. If I'm fortunate enough to drive home and see this, the colors never cease to amaze me.

Sometimes I wonder, "Why did God bother to make a sunset so beautiful?" He didn't have to make anything spectacular, it could've simply gone from, "Lights on" to "Lights off" but there's this wonderful transition.

A few days ago while at the desk working I saw a family of 3 deer walk up the driveway, graze on the remaining grass, then effortlessly jump over the fence into the pasture. There's nothing that beats the beauty of that.

Or the flock of 16 turkeys we had right outside our livingroom window.

While there's nothing that chases "thank yous" out of my mind as fast as a deer in the road, there's nothing that brings them back as just watching the grace they have as they prance through a field.

In this country where we have so much, where we really don't have a clue what NEED is, we are probably the least thankful for our blessings.

So tomorrow, today, right now, stop and say a "Thank you" for the blessings you have in your life.

Here's wishing you all, a wonderful Thanksgiving!

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“Not what we say about our blessings, but how we use them, is the true measure of our thanksgiving.” -W. T. Purkiser

“If the only prayer you said in your whole life was, “thank you,” that would suffice.” -Meister Eckhart

He who thanks but with the lips
Thanks but in part;
The full, the true Thanksgiving
Comes from the heart.
-J.A. Shedd

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.
-Ralph Waldo Emerson