Being Thankful on Thanksgiving

 I’m so thankful for a family that is at home waiting for me with open arms each day when I arrive home from work, the good days and the bad. They always love me the same. I wouldn’t have been able to find my wonderful wife and build my own family if I hadn't had such a great example from my own parents, grandparents and aunts and uncles. 

 

    

I’m grateful for the conditions that allowed my parents to worship as they pleased.  My mother pursued, renewed, and nurtured her faith in God despite doubts my father had for many years.  A reminder that to this day in some nations in the world women are not allowed to pursue interests of their own let alone those interests that involve religious views and practices.  My parents pursued happiness as they saw fit raising our family in love.  Thankfully their parents, grandparents, etc. All pursued their happiness in the land of the free since the day the Europeans began to settle.  But freedom in the Americas wasn’t just happenstance.   

Regarding my European ancestors-for quite a while the dark ages prevailed.  A period where intellectual and scientific discovery was hampered.  Also referred to as a period of apostasy from Christ’s teachings this period was overcome by the Renaissance and later Columbus sailed to the Americas and paved the way for migration.  It appears to me that without the Lord’s promise of restoration, left to our own devices, humanity was facing an inevitable road to self-destruction.   

The Lord loves his children though and self-destruction is not his purpose for them.  I see glory in His plan for His children from the dawn of life on earth until my own time.  I’m thankful for that plan and for the Lord’s love for me and for all of His children.  What a blessing to have life, a wonderful loving family, and all the amazing opportunities I continue to have in my life.