THANKSGIVING THOUGHTS

Thanksgiving is next to “nigh”. While I’m at work this week, L is home preparing for family and friends who will be joining us on Thursday for dinner.

I anticipate a lively group to include, hopefully, Big Bridget and Auntee, and several of the Ugandan seminarians. Sadly, H1/DIL1 will not be with us, but we will keep them in our thoughts and prayers, and probably in our snide comments, as well. (Hey, they won’t be there to defend themselves, right?!?!)

On a serious note, I want to reflect for a moment on some of the things for which I am thankful.

First and foremost, I am thankful for family. For Linda, wonderful wife and mother that she is, who I love without reservation and who completes me in a way that no one and nothing else can. I am thankful for the blessings of my four children and three grandchildren. I want them to know that I love them and am proud of them. I am grateful, too, for Jerrod, Hannah and Gisselle. I can only hope that they find in their relationships the joy, happiness and love, in at least some small measure, that I experience daily with Linda.

I am thankful for my brother and sisters, nieces and nephews, in-laws and soon-to-be’s. I am thankful for my friends who, through the grace of God are too numerous to try and mention, but especially for Bob and Helen, Mick and Bev, Keith and Chris, and Big J and the Lunch bunch. I pray that God blesses you all in a special way this Thanksgiving.

I am thankful for both H2 and I coming through our health issues relatively intact, and for all the support and prayers offered for us and to us.

I am grateful for the opportunity to serve my God and His Church, and for the many graces He has bestowed on me through that service. I am thankful for my diaconate experience, the many new friends made along the journey and the opportunity to share my faith with others.

I am grateful for parents and grandparents who taught us love, respect, responsibility, humility, morality, faith and hope, not just by word, but by the way they lived their lives.

If you’ve made it this far, I am thankful for YOU, for giving me the reason right now, at this moment, to stop and think about all the blessings that I’ve received in my lifetime, not the least of which is YOU!

May the peace and love of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, be yours, not only this Thanksgiving, but every day of your life!!