Counting blessings

How many times have we started the day off wrong because something so small and insignificant has gone wrong...we let it fester inside and cast a gray cloud over the rest of our day. We're worried about our weight, the frizziness of our hair, the newspaper's being delivered late, the school bus is early, the diet we're on is difficult, the gym was crowded at lunchtime. We are so busy finding things to make us unhappy that we forget to seek out those things that bring us joy!

Today I found out a friend's father was in the hospital because a wound he'd had became infected. His life is in jeopardy. To add to the dismay, he is the primary caregiver for his invalid wife. The burden of her care and their financial stability now lies with my friend. On Monday she went from wondering which class she might take at the gym to figuring out how to maneuver her way through the emergency medical services at the hospital, to inquiring about how to get power of attorney over her parents affairs, how to juggle care for her own family and visit her father and still care for her mother, her parents household and their pets.

We are blessed to have our families, our friends, our health, communities, jobs, beauty in nature and comfort at home. As Thanksgiving rolls around, we are reminded to count our blessings. Why wait?

Here are some thoughts on thankfulness to share...today. Peace.

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"O Lord that lends me life, Lend me a heart replete with thankfulness."
- William Shakespeare


"I do not think of all the misery, but of the glory that remains. Go outside into the fields, nature and the sun, go out and seek happiness in yourself and in God. Think of the beauty that again and again discharges itself within and without you and be happy."
- Anne Frank


I sit beside the fire and think of all that I have seen,
of meadow-flowers and butterflies in summers that have been;
Of yellow leaves and gossamer in autumns that there were,
with morning mist and silver sun and wind upon my hair.
-J.R.R. Tolkien, Bilbo's Song


We are taught as Traditional children that we have abundance. The Creator has given us everything: the water, the air we breathe, the earth as our flesh, and our energy force: our heart. We are thankful every day. We pray early in the morning, before sunrise, the morning star, and the evening star. We pray for our relatives who are in the universe that someday they will come.
-Looks for Buffalo, Oglala Sioux Spiritual Leader


Be still, my heart, these great trees are prayers.
- Rabindranath Tagore