My dear cousin, Marilyn Loy Turner sent me two inspiring and thought provoking pieces on being thankful that she wrote years ago.  They were published in the paper under Empty Nest Syndrome. After much division in our great nation America, and Thanks Giving drawing closer, I decided to go ahead and publish these to help get our minds on grace and gratitude. Many times we miss the small things while worrying about things we cannot change.

Season of Thankfulness, by Marilyn Loy Turner

This season reminds  me how thankful I am for so many things.
I enjoy reading  other’s  lists  of what  they  are  thankful  for.  I recently  ran  across  two state­ments by different  generations about  what    they   counted   as blessings.
The first one, an elementary school child said “I’m thankful for  my grandmother’s    hands’. What a beautiful  thought.  I too am thankful  that  I had two wonderful grandmothers  al­ though their gentle hands have been folded in eternal  sleep for many  years.    They used  their hands for good. My grandmother Loy’s hands  never  ceased  crocheting  and quilting  from day­ light to dusk.  I would do well to follow the pattern  of her life.
An elderly  person  wrote  he was thankful  that  he still  had his eyes, teeth, and hair. I agree. I also am thankful  for tooth­less grins.   Nothing  can cheer me up better than a baby’s smile. How I loved it when my children lost their front teeth.  They were  so cute.   The photos I have  of them  with  empty grins  makes my heart  full.   Those pictures are priceless.
I’m thankful  for my hair  too although  I have  frequent  bad
hair days. I’m thankful  that my children have gotten out of the stage when they wanted  to ex­ experiment   with  different   hair colors.   Thank  goodness  they haven’t  had  green  locks since Halloween. (Although some people can pull it off)

I’m thankful  for my eyes that I can  see the  beauty  of God’s
Earth.   I can see the changes in my full nest.   The children  are growing, maturing,  and  learn­ing.  I hope and pray  someday they’ll give me beautiful  grand­children  who will be thankful for their grandmother’s  hands.

 Season of Thankfulness Part #2

This year as Thanksgiving draws near, I am thankful for all the  near-misses   I’ve had  that didn’t turn into catastrophes.
Have  you  ever  had  a  near­ miss?  An accident, an injury, a traumatic    event   that   nearly happened  but didn’t?  I’m talking­  about when something saves you from tragedy.

Maybe you were about to run off the road in your vehicle but corrected just in time, perhaps someone al­ most backed their car.into yours but responded to your desperate horn blowing. I’ve  had  many  near-misses.
Once I ran over a deer and wasn’t hurt, although my car was badly
damaged  and my kids accused me of “killing Bambi.” Recently I was on an airplane that  was  struck  by lightning. Like my fellow passengers, I sat up, wide-eyed  and  frightened. Nothing was visible through my window seat.   The pilot in­ instructed the flight attendants  to stay seated and belted.  An eld­erly lady behind me screamed, “oh, my heart!” and grabbed her chest.  My nurse husband  and I took her pulse, it was rapid like the  descending  of the  plane  to 10,000 feet and the winds that were keeping us from receiving landing clearance at the airport.
All I could do was pray and think of other airplane crashes. How horrible  for those people who must have realized  in the few seconds, their fate.
How very thankful  I am that allowed me and my fellow passengers, including the eld­erly lady, to arrive safely at our destination.
We have so much to be thank­ful for, for life, for health,  for family, and friends.
This  Thanksgiving,   remem­ber,   it’s   not   about   material things, the name brand clothes or the flashy cars. Had our plane crashed, no one would have seen what  we  were  wearing.     We would never drive again and we certainly  wouldn’t  have  taken our luggage to eternity.
This   year don’t near-miss being thankful  to God in your heart  for his mercy in keeping you safe and allowing you to live to see another scrumptious meal on your table.
By MARILYN  LOY TURNER