A grateful heart. That's what I have. For all the problems, personal issues, family drama, work drama that is going on in my life right now, my heart remains grateful. In a time when people have seemingly lost their ever loving minds, and spewing hate and vitriol seems the norm, I have managed to remain grateful even though it's proven to be a daunting task at times.
Tomorrow marks the beginning of Thanksgiving week and I find it only fitting that I remind myself (maybe even you) of what is truly important and how fortunate, how blessed I am. But I'm only human. Sometimes, I get caught up in myself and my world that anything that occurs outside of it, goes unnoticed, or gets noticed but is soon forgotten. And for that I am so sorry. Every day I am reminded that life is so fleeting. This year alone has seen a few of my friends pass away, deal with cancer, deal with divorce. And I watch the news report on the fires in California and realize that only by the grace of God, I am spared such a tragedy. I drive around the city and go through a random underpass and see the homeless milling about, their temporary, self-made paper tents strewn among countless others. And as I drive away, I thank God that I am not in their circumstance and thank him also for my home and my abundant blessings. I'm far from perfect and am not a holy-roller. I am a huge sinner -let's not even pretend that I'm not. But I have faith. Alot of faith. I rely on that for strength, for sustenance, for everything. I know that Thanksgiving will come and go and then everyone will be on the Christmas countdown. But I will try very hard to remain grateful. To remain humble and to give thanks for all that I have and all that I don't have. My Catholic faith is a huge part of my life. But it's not for everyone, I get that. And that's ok. Find your strength, your grateful heart and your hope in whatever way works for you. Because if we don't have that, we don't have anything.
I wish all of you an amazing Thanksgiving. Lots of turkey and ham and pies. Hopefully not too much indigestion (heh) but mostly, I wish you love and time well spent with your families, your loved ones, your frenemies and yourselves. And I ask you to please be kind to one another. You don't have to like each other, but you could at least be kind to one another. Be the bigger person. Politics and party affiliations be damned. Remember, we're all in this together.
Gobble-gobble everybody!
Peace.
