Ralph Waldo Emerson wrote,

For each new morning with its light, For rest and shelter of the night, For health and food, for love and friends, For everything Thy goodness sends.

We have so much to be thankful for that it staggers the imagination. To be alive and breathing is reason enough to shout to the heavens. Our health, even if failing, still has us above ground in a world of extraordinary beauty.

To contemplate Thanksgivings past is to languish in a mound of warm blankets, to sip tea with our remembrances and rejoice in their reverie. Scenes of childhood flash across the canvas and smells and sounds permeate our minds.

I remember Thanksgivings of days past and family members whose seats are now empty. They still linger in our minds as we thank God for memories. We walk with them as we age and seek to be the best people we can be. We hope that we make them proud, as we carry their names forward in time.

The physical blessings of our lives are stupendous. We have received more blessings than we can enumerate and yet we complain and seek after more opulence. Wealth hijacks our minds and points us to the wrong goals in life. A return to simplicity would reclaim our innocence and appreciation for what we have ( Matthew 6:25-34).

People who cannot be satisfied will never find fulfillment. It will always be elusive, as nothing that is in the hands will satisfy. Dreamers never settle on a treasure. There will always be new hills to climb and verdant valleys to possess.

Israel was hungry after leaving Egypt. God provided them with manna, but they soon began to complain and wanted something new (Numbers 11). God blessed them with Quail, only to see them gorging themselves in excess. He then made them sick with a plaque.

How is our gratitude? Do we need a plague to wake us up?

May we all renew our commitment to simplicity, godliness and thankfulness. In the process, our regenerated spirits will soar, the flowers will bloom and the sun will shine. In the end, we will finally realize the glorious world our God has given us!

Thanks be to God for his marvelous love!

–Richard Mansel @ www.forthright.net