A letter last week from a friend in Tulsa echoed my thoughts. "The seasons are moving way too fast for me," she wrote. Our fall has been pretty mild and our early snow on Nov. 16 melted quickly but, with December's coming and the arrival of winter less than three weeks away, we begin to think of preparing for colder days.
The weather man forecast some sleet or snow to begin the month and Mother Nature cooperated and brought us a taste of what's to come. I imagine sister Mary Alice and her husband were happy to be out of the area and sailing away on a cruise to celebrate their anniversary.
The waning days of November are traditionally a time to gather with family and friends, enjoy a bountiful meal and a few days' break from work or school. I told a friend recently that we don't really celebrate Thanksgiving anymore for, after all, shouldn't every day be a day of thanksgiving and reflecting upon our blessings? As Paul instructed in his letter to the Ephesians (5:2), we should be "always giving thanks to our God and Father for everything in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ." Likewise the psalmist David wrote: "All day long I will praise you; I will praise your name forever and ever." (Psalm 145:2).
Governor Mike Beebe, in a column in one of our sister newspapers, quoted former president John F. Kennedy. Kennedy reminded Americans that this holiday time should not be used just as a time to rest. It should also be a time of contemplation. "Today we give our thanks, most of all, for the ideals of honor and faith we inherit from our forefathers -- for the decency of purpose, steadfastness of resolve and strength of will, for the courage and the humility which they possessed and which we must seek every day to emulate. As we express our gratitude, we must never forget that the highest appreciation is not to utter words but to live by them."
If we are truly grateful for what God has done for us and given to us, others should be able to see our appreciation in everything we do. As the writer of a Seeds of Hope devotional said, "An attitude of gratitude is always obvious." We should be like David when he wrote, "I will praise you with all my heart." (Psalm 138:1a). The thanksgiving he described was total and consumed his whole self. The word he used for heart included his consciousness of God's presence, his memory of God's goodness and his awareness of God's grace. The devotional said, "He (David) worshiped God with excitement, enthusiasm and expectation."
David spoke about being filled with joy, and joy is the natural state of anyone who trusts in the Lord. Knowing "all things work together for our good" should fill our hearts with joy and cause that joy to radiate from our hearts to our heads and out through our hands. Everything we do should be done with a smile on our face and gladness in our eyes.
We do have much to be thankful for, especially our family members and friends. We had a visit recently from my niece Melissa, who lives in Virginia. She'd been visiting relatives in Iowa and her uncle brought her down to St. Joe, Mo., where Mary Alice met her and brought her down for several days. This was her first time to come to Arkansas since brother Richard's funeral in August, 2011. Both nieces dropped in briefly last Thursday, and later that day we visited Joe, Heather and the grandkids who were enjoying their time off.
Other blessings include an abundance of good, nutritious food. We always find a big emphasis on preparing and eating food this time of year. Week before last I joined friends at the senior center for a delicious meal and the next day drove to Siloam for lunch with my newspaper colleagues at Angelino's, an Italian restaurant that recently opened there. After lunch we returned to the office where we had a variety of pies from which to choose. Last Wednesday Jim and I went shopping and bought a 10 pound ham. We baked it and made dressing that night, then on Thursday added mashed potatoes, gravy, green peas and rolls. I opened a can of cranberry sauce for me but Jim didn't help me eat that.
We've had some incidents we're not so grateful for recently, like troubles with our vehicles, but now that we've purchased a new tire for Jim's pickup and a new battery for my car, maybe those won't occur for a while. We'll work on carrying our "attitude of gratitude" into this month of December, which promises to be a busy one.
Susan Holland is a reporter for the Westside Eagle Observer. She may be contacted by email at [email protected]. Opinions expressed are those of the author.
Editorial on 12/03/2014