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
Good words, Marilyn. Thank you so much! Happy Thanksgiving.