A Post-Thanksgiving Thought

Hope everyone's enjoying the Thanksgiving break. Not much happening out there. Oh, right. There were those riots in Ireland. Strange. Ireland. 

Hope as well that the truce between Israel and Hamas results in saving some lives and with Israeli hostages being returned. Not hoping, but expecting, the war will return with a vengeance.

Been listening to some decent interviews on some new Youtube sources. Just trying to take in various and opposing viewpoints to try to get a feel for what's coming. So far, nothing to report - at least nothing important.

So at this point, there's bit more left of the holiday respite. Not being a Mall guy, won't be driving around to clip a few bucks off of stuff that most folks don't need in the first place. And not being an online shopper, beyond the needs and occasional wants that a modest lifestyle generates, not spending tons of time online hunting down digital bargains. Prefer to get whatever work needs doing done; then seeing if a bit of R&R holds up in the face of the regular flow of items that seem to pop up every time it seems a break from the everyday has arrived (ahhh, at last!).

But that's just how life goes.

And if you're not sure how life goes, it's just this: God's Will. He has a Plan. None of us really can get much of an understanding of what that might be. Sometimes stuff happens we like; sometimes stuff we hate; sometimes just stuff. But it's all part of that Plan.

Having given up on trying to figure all this out, but not making the mistake of being exasperated, throwing my hands up, and saying either that God can't possibly exist (when a lot of bad stuff happens) or that Whoever or Whatever God is, It's not appealing; indeed might be kind of impersonal.

No, God is our Father - just like Jesus taught. He's the one Who kept pounding away at the concept of God as His and our Father. Father as in Father. More so, loving Father Who has our best interests paramount in His Mind when He thinks about us. And He thinks about us all the time.

Did such a view weigh in heavily in the huge dollops of gratitude that were expressed on Thanksgiving - and, frankly, every day? You betcha. In fact, without such a view life would quickly turn from color to gray - not even black and white. It would just be something to manage and put up with; or something that involves the constant search for relief and pleasure. And none of that ever did or ever will lead to any sense of real satisfaction.

Ugh! Just thinking of life like that has started to drag down what's left of this break. So with that, I'll turn off the over-analysis switch and get back to the work that must be done and the hope of some sort of real respite from work that's just a pain.

Next week will arrive sooner than we think. So we might as well take what's been given to us and trust that God, our loving Father, will have our backs from now on - if we haven't already figured that out.

One last time: Happy Thanksgiving!

BONUS:

We passed on this lovely poem by Louisa May Alcott to our family, friends, clients and colleagues. The sentiment remains fresh:

Summer days are over,
Summer work is done;
Harvests have been gathered
Gayly one by one.
Now the feast is eaten,
Finished is the play;
But one rite remains for
Our Thanksgiving-day.

Best of all the harvest
In the dear God's sight,
Are the happy children
In the home to-night;
And we come to offer
Thanks where thanks are due,
With grateful hearts and voices,
Father, mother, unto you.