Giving thanks

It's all over Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and every other social network out there.  It has been all month long.  Everyone listing daily what they are thankful for.  I didn't participate.  Not on the networks anyway. Not that there's anything wrong with it.  Sometimes listing these things will open your eyes to all you do have.  I've even struggled before when I have participated in previous years. 

It's nice to see what everyone is thankful for.  Their kids, spouse, job, family, friends, the list goes on and on.  Though, I wonder if we are really thankful for these things we list.  Do we sit and ponder as we update our social network status and think, "Oh that's a good one.  I'll post that!" Are we really thankful for those blessings or do we really have an ulterior motive behind it?  To keep our list flowing?  Just because? To impress?  To make others jealous?  (one would surely hope not) To make ourselves look better than we view ourselves?  To convince ourselves?  My mind wonders if we have thanked the One who made all these blessings possible?  We take the time to type them out, post on every social network we are signed up for and spend the time checking to see if anyone has "liked" or commented on those daily statuses.  Have we taken just that one moment it takes to thank God for them all?  It's a reality check, really.  Self to blame.

This year for Thanksgiving, we will be going to each mother's home.  Clayton comes home early Thanksgiving morning.  I'll be driving to Houston to get him from the airport, coming home to get ready to leave to go to his mother's house 30 miles from us, visit with them, then drive up to Shreveport to my mother's home.  We will have Thanksgiving with her a day late.  That's a lot of turkey and Clayton is in charge of frying it for both families.  I can almost taste it now.  It won't be long.

This year for my side of the family, we are starting a new Thanksgiving tradition.  We will have a notebook and each family member will have one page to write everything they are thankful for.  We will keep the same notebook throughout the years as we go back to the previous years and see what we were thankful for back then.  Maybe the women of the family will be more prone to accept the challenge than the men, but it will be fun.

I'm finished with my page.  I just finished.  Here it is in all it's natural glory:

Just when I was almost finished, I put Thanksgiving at the bottom.  Then I noticed I had left the "S" out of the word.  I laughed at it but thought I'd have to start all over.  Why though?  It's just not that big a deal, right?  So, I just marked out my mistake with a big thick black marker and put on the side with an arrow pointing to it.  "and even mess ups."  It's so true that mess ups teach us and help us grow.  If we are willing.  So yes, I'm thankful for even my mess ups.  With this one, maybe it will even stir a few chuckles.

Happy Thanksgiving!