Post by Maethius on Nov 25, 2011 12:31:25 GMT -5
Yesterday, officially, was the day of Thanksgiving here in the US. A holiday established by President Abraham Lincoln (arguably one of the best leads of men in history, and couldn't we use him now!) in 1863, during the U.S. Civil War.
It's a time, to me, when we need to put aside all the frustration of our modern culture, set aside our anger and sorrow, as legitimate as those things can be, and focus on those things we can truly appreciate. This need not be a "Christian" holiday, nor some marketing ploy by modern retail chains. Sometimes we just need to take a moment to take stock of what we, as individuals, have in our lives.
I have had some bleak years. I have lived on the dark side of the suicide watch. I have lived in poverty, but never squalor. I have bundled up without heat in the cold of winter, but have always had a roof. I have eating for long periods only because of the donations of those with a few morsels to spare. I have lived many days in gray frustration and fallen to sleep on a pillow wet with the tears of hopelessness; yet I had a bed and a pillow to cry upon. I've felt the constant weight of a loveless heart while plodding through days donning the necessary mask of determination and focus demanded of me. I've reached out to a God I believed in and felt no hand reaching back to me, but never stopped reaching. I've been a prisoner in a cage forged within my own mind... the hardest prison in the world to break free of. To my shame, I've spent many years in a darkness of my making, while all around me people truly suffered.
I am thankful for the simple things I have today. I am grateful for my ever supportive wife, and for our two beautiful, happy children. I am happy that we have enough to eat. I am very glad that we have a house to live in, despite the holes and cracks I try to find and seal against the winter wind. I am thankful that we have food to eat, and that we do not want for clothing. I am ever grateful for our family, near and far, and that we all have each other. I am thankful that, in a country filled with turmoil within a world overflowing with it, we still have each other, and that we are in good health.
I have grown since my dark days, and, after 40 years, I have begun to understand what real thankfulness is about.
I hope you do, too.
-Greg
It's a time, to me, when we need to put aside all the frustration of our modern culture, set aside our anger and sorrow, as legitimate as those things can be, and focus on those things we can truly appreciate. This need not be a "Christian" holiday, nor some marketing ploy by modern retail chains. Sometimes we just need to take a moment to take stock of what we, as individuals, have in our lives.
I have had some bleak years. I have lived on the dark side of the suicide watch. I have lived in poverty, but never squalor. I have bundled up without heat in the cold of winter, but have always had a roof. I have eating for long periods only because of the donations of those with a few morsels to spare. I have lived many days in gray frustration and fallen to sleep on a pillow wet with the tears of hopelessness; yet I had a bed and a pillow to cry upon. I've felt the constant weight of a loveless heart while plodding through days donning the necessary mask of determination and focus demanded of me. I've reached out to a God I believed in and felt no hand reaching back to me, but never stopped reaching. I've been a prisoner in a cage forged within my own mind... the hardest prison in the world to break free of. To my shame, I've spent many years in a darkness of my making, while all around me people truly suffered.
I am thankful for the simple things I have today. I am grateful for my ever supportive wife, and for our two beautiful, happy children. I am happy that we have enough to eat. I am very glad that we have a house to live in, despite the holes and cracks I try to find and seal against the winter wind. I am thankful that we have food to eat, and that we do not want for clothing. I am ever grateful for our family, near and far, and that we all have each other. I am thankful that, in a country filled with turmoil within a world overflowing with it, we still have each other, and that we are in good health.
I have grown since my dark days, and, after 40 years, I have begun to understand what real thankfulness is about.
I hope you do, too.
-Greg
