Thankful

So much to be thankful for this year....

(Turkey dress courtesy of Mimi.)

We are so blessed, so lucky.  We have so much to be so thankful for.  At time, I forget it.  I let myself get caught up in daily stresses and little annoyances.  The busyness of our lives overshadows the small blessings.

This week, I will be busy finishing up my holiday decorating, getting ready for a big fieldtrip with my second graders, working on more homemade Christmas gifts, and checking things off of my weekly to-do list. 

But, my heart will be in Atlanta.  My sweet cousin Christine went home to meet Jesus this week.  She is my age.  Leaving behind her sweet son, her dear parents, and her adoring brothers and sisters.  My heart is greiving for each of them.  I am holding my own girl tighter, pleading to God that I never have to lose her.  Aunt Karen & Uncle Robby, I love you and am praying for healing and peace, and that somehow you will find comfort in the midst of unimaginable pain.

“For in our suffering, not apart from it, Jesus enters our

sadness, takes us by the hand,

pulls us gently up to stand, and invites us to dance.

We find the way to pray, as the psalmist did,

“You have turned my mourning into dancing” (Ps 30:11),

because at the center of our grief

we can find the grace of God.”

(excerpt from Henri Nouwen’s “Turn My Mourning Into Dancing”)