A Thankful Thanksgiving

By G. E. Shuman

If you ever celebrate Thanksgiving Day with our family, be prepared. As we sit down to dinner, it has come to be expected that everyone present will be asked to mention something they are thankful for. I¢m sure my wife started this tradition years ago, and I'm also equally sure it was a worthwhile thing to have done. The way this tradition works is that, before eating, we simply go around the dinner table and everyone shares just a sentence or two of how they have been blessed in the past year. If your family has never done this, I suggest you try it. It has a way of bringing all the frantic holiday preparations back into perspective, and helps to focus on what¢s really important to, and appreciated by your family.

This year our family will celebrate Thanksgiving Day at the home of our daughter Chrissy and her family. Unless I¢m mistaken, we will likely follow the Thanksgiving routine there too, with thankful thoughts shared around one more beautiful, bountiful holiday table. It will be a time of expressing thanks for family and friends, and of a big celebration in food. It will be a great day of turkey and tradition and for mentions of thankfulness for treasures and trials.

Yes, I said thankfulness for trials. Either my wife or I will likely be the one to share those words at our great family gathering. Please let me explain. You see, it is easy to be happy, confident, and thankful when life is going your way. It is easy to feel quite comfortable and worry-free, when your income and future seem secure. Regrettably, but in another way, thankfully, this is not the case for many people right now. And, yes, I said thankfully, again. Our country, and, indeed, our world, has suddenly found itself in terribly difficult economic times. I could elaborate here on the fact that the frightening situation we find ourselves in now was not even a worthy news topic just last summer, but that is for another column. What matters now is the fact that many thousands of people, right here in our own land, have lost their jobs. Thousands more are fearful that they soon will. My hope, and the reason I dared to use the word ¡thankfully¢ in describing this situation, is as follows.

You see, this fall has been a very trying time for my own immediate family. It has been a time of testing in some ways, as I lost my employment on September 2nd. But it has also been a time in which we have literally been witness to the meeting of every single one of our needs, many times by extraordinary, if not miraculous means. It has been a time of family members pulling together, showing concern, and sharing their faith. These months have been filled by unnumbered calls, encouraging notes, and coveted prayers by family and friends, none of which would have had reason to occur if we were not in the midst of a few trials. Many readers may not understand, but, in truth, this has been a very blessed time for our family, in thanksgiving for what we have witnessed, and for all that we have.

In this season of Thanksgiving, how could we be anything but thankful? God has supplied all of our needs, exactly, precisely when they are needed. He has shown Himself to us, to be real, and to be really loving. These months have brought Lorna and me closer together and closer to Him. And yes, we are thankful for the trials that have taught us to worry less, to trust God more, and to live by faith, daily.

Skeptics will read this column, and some may decide that I am a few drumsticks shy of a true Thanksgiving dinner. That is okay. If you wish to sign me up for therapy, you need to take a number and get in line. For the rest of you, it is my hope that you will not only recognize all that you have to be thankful for, but come to know The One we all should be thankful to. We at the Shuman home wish you and yours a healthy, happy, and very thankful Thanksgiving.

Eliminate Debt Debt Software Free Mortgage Software Kingdom Financial Principles