Giving Thanks.

Happy Thanksgiving, from our family to yours!

(My apologies.   I forgot to click the “publish” button yesterday.  But, its never too late to give thanks, even if the Christmas carol have begun playing.  right?)

It was in the fourth grade, sitting on the gym floor of Northridge Elementary School in London, Ontario that I heard it for the first time.  Every week the entire school participated in an assembly.  It was  sweaty and smelly and hot. Its certainly not the first place I think of when I meditate on God’s goodness.

But, as a little “american” girl, who had just moved to a new house and started attending a new school, with new classmates and a different routine,  I remember singing the hymn as clearly as if it happened yesterday.  For me, in those moments where everything felt foreign and a bit uncomfortable, I could still turn my heart towards Heaven and think about the good things.  And there were a lot of those good things to think about.  It was my first experience in learning to give thanks, in all things.

My life is so different from those times in London, and yet it is still the same. When difficulties arrive at my doorstep, when changes intrude on my comfortable spaces, He is the very one who heaped blessings on me then and He continues to now.   Whether counting my physical or spiritual blessings, there is no doubting that I am a rich woman.   And still, in this blessed season of life, I’m learning to give thanks.

With the beautiful thoughts below, I wish you the happiest of Thanksgivings…

For the beauty of the earth,
For the glory of the skies;
For the love which from our birth,
Over and around us lies;
Lord of all, to Thee we raise
This, our hymn of grateful praise.

For the wonder of each hour,
Of the day and of the night;
Hill and vale and tree and flow'r,
Sun and moon, and stars of light;
Lord of all, to Thee we raise
This, our hymn of grateful praise.

For the joy of ear and eye,
For the heart and mind's delight;
For the mystic harmony,
Linking sense to sound and sight;
Lord of all, to Thee we raise
This, our hymn of grateful praise.

For the joy of human love,
Brother, sister, parent, child;
Friends on Earth and friends above,
For all gentle thoughts and mild;
Lord of all, to Thee we raise
This, our hymn of grateful praise.

For Thyself, best Gift Divine,
To the world so freely given,
For that great, great love of Thine,
Peace on earth and joy in heaven.
Lord of all, to Thee we raise
This, our hymn of grateful praise.

Happy Thanksgiving from our home to yours!