THANKS - a giving



It is already a  few more weeks to the end of the year and the temptation to start winding down and postponing some of our dreams to the very next year is real. It seems safer and far less disappointing to dream that the issues we have will be resolved in another cycle of 365 days than in the next 24 days .
Whenever we come to this time of the year also, it seems most of the articles we come across are focused on Thanksgiving which we very often begrudge as we participate 

 But the general essence of Thanksgiving is not just another tick box exercise in our end of year list. In reality just as there are many things we think cant happen in the year again, there are actually somethings that still happen.

Just this week , a close friend was telling me about the demise of another close friend of hers’ husband. This lady got married in her late thirties and her marriage is less than three years old, from something that looked like an acute attack on Sunday and was being treated by back and forth movements to the hospital, by wednesday her husband had died and just before the end of the first week of December , she had become a widow.
I do not need to recount more stories as I am sure , we all have our own versions. Several people who we started the year together  that are no more, several friends/siblings whose marriages fell apart during the course of the year and those who became financially handicapped due to one circumstance or the other are very much in our periphery.

But perhaps that may not be the case for everyone reading, some people I know have had the best year ever, long standing issues have been resolved and places where they hid their head and walked down in shame have become places where only the peacock can contest with them with the new spring in their feet, their head held up high because there has been a positive turn around .

However the matter is something we can all come to regardless of our circumstances simply because we are alive. Yes alive and well enough to read this , to appreciate the little things in life that we have the privilege of enjoying.
I want to crave our indulgence in the next  few weeks of the year, to find on a daily basis something to be grateful for and if you are looking for a place to start, one of my friends has been running for the 13th year an annual Thanksgiving series everyday in the month of December. She encourages us to be thankful for something different everyday of the week and can be found in the link :www.adayingodswill.com

You may wish to check out the page but for us all in dishusbandmata, we are thankful today for life. Really thankful.

From a grateful heart,
Gracillis.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

The things I never told my Mother

Growing up for me was blissful. I had a father who would listen,  empower  and reinforce to me the fact that God fearfully and wonderfully created me. Daddy told me daily how I could be anything I wanted to be. You see, my daddy was 30 years older than my mother. He was better educated in “terms of certificates” than her and he was a greatly travelled gentleman. My mother on the flip side, was only a standard six certificate  holder, from  a more humble background but “a very intelligent woman” without the glory of “many paper certificates”.   By virtue of the gap in their background, my mother’s mantra was to beat the discipline physically, by “fire by force” into one’s body. My father would discuss with you and explain very calmly, ensuring that you understood what and why you need to make recommended changes. The two had modus operandi that were the opposite to each other.   I look back and cannot remember the one time my father hit me or ever shouted at me. However, my mo
Read more

Changing my Yes

I had hardly been months in a particular relationship and was not expecting a proposal so quickly as I had my doubts. So I was a bit taken aback when on an outing one evening, just by the car,he put one knee to the ground to ask for my hand in marriage .I was not overly excited or elated and did not give an answer until several days later .Some of my friends were happy for me and said the excitement may come later  but somehow I did not feel excited even after saying yes but  It just seemed that was the next step expected and I was also hoping that now the relationship had taken a serious turn, some of the issues I had would be addressed. The very first time I met this guy (let’s call him Kenneth ),one of the things he said to me was that “ I love truth ”. But I soon discovered that it was actually the opposite. Several times, I heard him say things that were not true and even when I accosted him, there was one excuse or the other. Another issue I experienced was the fact that I
Read more

Put Your best foot forward

 A wise person once said “ First impressions last long ” and when it comes to meeting new people especially if they happen to be members of our new family or extended family by that thing called “love” ,it is important that we deliberately make sure we create good impressions. This is because according to Andrew Grant, “you never get a second chance to make a first impression”. Although not all   first impressions are necessarily true, it  is usually a herculean task to change wrong first impressions. Just this afternoon, I was chatting with a friend and she ended the conversation with “dealing with in-laws is a skill” . While almost everybody wants to be married, not everyone wants to deal with in-laws or the stereotype mother in-law. The latter seems to be the most unloved compound name word and some people have even been known to pray that they would not have one by the time they meet their spouses! Well that kind of prayer is only fair to be answered if they also mean that
Read more