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A Thanksgiving Message

November 24, 2022 by tornado Leave a Comment

Thanksgiving: an annual holiday meant to serve as a day of gratitude, a reminder to count blessings and show our appreciation for them. I only need to look as far as the faces of my wife and grown children to see how blessed I am. I hope you can find similar solace in someone(s) you love, and in something about your daily situation, while recognizing it’s not necessarily easy.

Many of our friends and family members have had hard times this year—seemingly more than usual. I think of those who have endured natural, criminal and suicidal deaths of loved ones, chronic physical or mental illness of self or a family member, severe acute sickness or injury, shattered relationships, financial hardship, job loss, homelessness or a looming threat thereof, or simply trying to raise kids and get by in a world that seems to be getting more insane by the year.

Right off the top of my head, I can sit here for just half a minute and think of 20, 30 or more people I know who have been dealing with just those kinds of problems, and others too. Their (your) faces flash before me like a newsreel of tough times. If this speaks to you, know you’re not alone, and that you are the subject of prayers for overcoming, that your story can invert from troubled to triumphant. It won’t be easy, and it could take awhile…but with the Lord, all good is possible.

In times like these, it can be hard to find things for which to be grateful. Life itself, something we too often take for granted, and something for which we should be thankful, may seem fruitless or pointless at times. Know you’ve got other people and a Lord who care, even if you don’t hear that enough.

Thanksgiving is about far more than turkeys, messy kitchens, gatherings around big tables, football, and that loudmouthed activist in the family ranting about politics at dinner. Cutting through all that, it’s about thankfulness. Whether your day will be full of relatives or a party of one, think of those people, pets, memories, and comforting items for which you’re grateful. Hold to those, cherish them, and offer thanks for the true friends and loved ones in your life, whether bountiful or few. There are some, I promise.

Moreover, take a minute to tell and show them your gratitude. Doing so only costs that little bit of time, and it pays off a hundredfold in good will and appreciation.

If you’re reading this, know that regardless of your profession, avocations, politics, or worldview, I appreciate you in some way or another, whether or not I have said so individually. You are a child of God, loved and valued despite all your flaws, just as I am, despite all mine. It’s difficult to keep that in mind sometimes, especially as hard as we can be on ourselves. But it’s true.

Thank you for reading, for understanding, and for being here. Happy Thanksgiving!

Filed Under: Not weather Tagged With: gratitude, Thanksgiving

For Whom to Give Thanks

November 22, 2012 by tornado Leave a Comment

As we gather around home and hearth to offer due gratitude to God, country and family for our more obvious blessings, large and small, let us also pause to remember and thank those for whom duty calls this Thanksgiving day:

* The troops, sailors and airmen who defend our freedoms and those of the world, at home and abroad, and all of the military and civilian personnel on duty today in support of their missions.

* First-responders of all kinds–police, fire, emergency medical–who will be there in short order should your house be burglarized, or your turkey fryer start an inferno, or a family member suffer a heart attack while watching the game.

* Border Patrol, deployed National Guard, Coast Guard, FBI, Secret Service and other national law-enforcement and security personnel on duty today.

* Hospital and nursing-home workers of all sorts, because sickness, suffering and need of aid don’t respect holidays.

* Operational meteorologists, the forecasters working rotating shifts today, and the technicians who keep their equipment going, because weather doesn’t respect holidays.

* Utility and communications workers who are on duty to make sure your gas, electricity, water, sewage and phone are running, and on call in case of outage.

* Air, rail and truck shippers delivering all manner of goods and food to the stores tonight and tomorrow.

* Retail workers in 24/7/365 businesses. If you need to get some salt or foil today, somebody will be at the 7-11 to sell it to you, and the gas pumps will be running.

* America’s farmers and ranchers–because crops, livestock and poultry don’t know it’s Thanksgiving (except perhaps the turkeys). Neither does the fence that fell over last night behind the back 40, or the loose gate in the stall.

* Air-traffic control personnel, keeping the skies safe for what travelers there are and for all that flying freight.

* Restaurant and hospitality workers. Not everybody is staying or eating at home!

* Prison guards, making sure the bad guys stay where they belong.

* Security guards, keeping bad guys not already imprisoned out of places they don’t belong.

* Server operators and troubleshooters, keeping them all humming so that you are able to go online today and read this.

* All repairmen on call today. Before this day is over, somebody’s shorted-out furnace, busted water pipe, or leaky fuel line will need attention that can’t wait until business hours.

* Hotline workers manning the phones for poison control, suicide, rape-crisis, ask-a-nurse, and other means of urgent assistance.

* Any of the folks working parking, concessions, security and broadcast/tech support for today’s games you’ll be watching.

I probably left off a lot of others on duty and on call today; but the important point is that a lot of people in America are working today–as well as on other holidays, nights and weekends. All deserve our thanks for their work today.

Filed Under: Weather AND Not Tagged With: gratitude, shift work, shift workers, shiftwork, thanks, Thanksgiving

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- February 7, 2023, 3:17 pm

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