On Being Thankful

 

 By G. E. Shuman       

 

This year November was a month of recuperation, of settling in, of staying put, and of thinking thoughts of the soon-coming winter, for me. Any spare time in October was spent doing the chores which make November’s ‘settling in’ possible, like getting air conditioners put away, leaky doors fixed, and windows locked up tight in this hundred-plus year-old home of ours.

Leaves from our two huge maples are faithful to cover the lawn each autumn, and are blown or raked away, followed by the rakes, themselves, being put away and replaced by snow shovels under the carport. Each year I spend some time making sure the snow blower still starts, and is greased up, fueled up, and ready for the weather to come. I don’t mind doing these chores that make our home as efficient and comfortable as possible when the harsh weather really hits.

 I get a bit contemplative at this tucked-in holiday season, especially, it seems, in the past few years. This old house is not as full of family and their belongings as it once was. Sometimes that is a difficult thing for me to think about.

I tend to be something of a poor sleeper and am thankful for the chance to fill some late evening hours writing to you, dear readers. So, thank you for easing those hours, and for the chance to express a few thoughts that many of us ‘northerners,’ even though we may be strangers, likely share.

Even now, as I sit here in silence, it is cold outside the windows of this house on the hill, and it is very dark out there. The winds of one more late fall evening beat against the aging glass panes, but fortunately, those winds have always stayed on the outside of this place. For this I am thankful. Indeed, it is quite warm in here, and cozy, tonight. The furnace works well, and there is enough fuel.

 All this contemplation is not a sad thing to me, but is, sometimes, a chance for reflection on the things my wife and I have done this year, and, reaching back further, the things we have done throughout all the years that we have lived in this place. (Obviously, without her, there would be no ‘we,’ and likely, by now, not even a ‘me.’) We were so blessed to raise five tremendously talented children in this old place, for which I am, truly, thankful. Those five amazing people are as diverse as any five children could ever be, and I would do anything at all to help any one of them.

I have been, truly and unquestionably, very blessed. Having a beautiful, faithful, Christian wife, wonderful children, grandchildren, and great grandchildren, and a warm home to occasionally share with them all makes for quite a life. What more could a man ask for?

 I am not at all sure why the words that have assembled on my computer screen this evening have done so as they have. When I write, that is often the case. I think, tonight, it is just because I cannot help but tell you that I am very thankful for my life, and for the people in it; for what I have, and for what I have had. I hope you feel the same way about your life, too.

Unless you are a member of my family, or of my small group of friends, I do not know anything about your beliefs. In any case, I will let you know mine. I believe very much in God, in His Son Jesus, in our nation, and in family. I also believe it is important to recognize and to be grateful for all that we have in the overflowing cornucopia of a country that we share, especially in this contemplative, settled-in time of year.

 I hope you will take a few minutes, as the holidays approach, not to stop and smell the roses, as there are few roses outside right now, but to stop and sense the fullness of what your life is, and of what you have experienced, so far. And, in a word, to be thankful.  If you express your thankfulness in a prayer, He really will listen.

 Have a blessed and happy Thanksgiving!