Sight

I am thankful for the ability to see. There are so many things in nature that are so beautiful to see that so much pleasure to life. Sight is a blessing that most people have and I think I usually take it for granted, as too many of us do. I am thankful for the blessing of sight.

Does a leaf make noise when it falls in the forest?

I am thankful for autumn. Coolness without cold, for the most part. Occasional rain without flooding, usually. Clear skies with sparkling freshness, often. Here in Tennessee the weather changes frequently and is often unpredictable. Every year there is usually a lot of seasonal variety. This year October has had more cloudy wet days than is usual for this part of the US. October is the driest month on average and there are usually lots of sunny days. Last year I recorded a trace or more rain on six of October's thirty-one days. This year is unusual in that I have recorded a trace or more thirteen of the twenty-two days so far. Still, fall is one of my favorite times of the year. I don't like temperatures much over 70º F and I don't like temperatures much under 40º F, and usually October and early November has more days in that range than any other times of the year except for mid March through April. The earth is settling down for its winter rest in the northern hemisphere and I like the way the air feels on mornings when the temperatures are in the 40's and then I like the way the days warm up to the 60's. The leaves change into a beautiful palate of reds, yellows, oranges, and mauves (OK, maybe not mauve). There are usually enough junipers on the hillsides to infuse green into the pictures of autumn color. I am thankful that autumn is beautiful and peaceful.

A blog a day can be inspiring!

I am thankful for blogs. A college student from our church, Matt, has gone to Peru to be a student missionary for a year. He created a blog to record some of his experiences and the church passed along the address so members could keep up with his story. His writing style is interesting and informative and it has been a pleasure to read his occasional entries and see what his life as as a student missionary is like. He also has some followers that are also student missionaries who have blogs telling of their experiences in other places like Honduras. Those followers in turn have other student missionary followers who are blogging their stories. I have to make myself stop spreading the net out or I wouldn't have time to do much else but read student missionary blogs. The stories these young people tell are impressive. They usually don't have a lot of great things to talk about, they spend their days doing small services for those God has called them to help. They are honest in their writings, so you get a sense of the frustrations as well as the joys they have as they deal with other cultures from Egypt to Peru to Honduras to the Marshall Islands. Some of them are together at the same places, so you even get different perspectives sometimes of the same incidents that happen at the schools or clinics they are teaching at or doing their medical work at. God is using these youth to show His love to individuals in ways that will be eternal blessings to both the student missionaries as well as the people they impact each day. I have known since I was in college that student missionaries were being sent to far away places, but I had never given much thought to their stories unless one of them spoke about their experiences when they got back home for a mission report or something. It is so fascinating to read their stories as they write what happens from day to day. I am blessed when I read their blog entries and I am inspired by what these youth are doing for God. I anonymously thank each one for taking the time to write about their student missionary life so others can see the things Gos is doing all over the world using special people who are willing to let God stretch them from their comfort zones to serve others. I praise God that He uses each of us if we are willing to be used where we are.

What a grouch!

I am thankful that my being grouchy usually lasts only a short time. I realize that to some it probably seems I am often grouchy, but I think I am usually really quite easy going and take things pretty well. Sometimes I can get pretty disgruntled at life and mad at everything. I am thankful these periods usually don't last very long. A little reality thinking usually will help me remember that God is good to me and I have many things to be thankful for. I'm sure these periods last way too long for those around me who have to put up with my needless seething, but at least a few hours is usually the limit. (We won't get into how many a few is!) Maybe as I get older I will almost always be happy when happiness is appropriate. I have reason to be happy most of the time, so maybe it will come my way. For now, I can be happy that sometimes I'm happy I guess.

Mom

I am thankful for good parents that loved me when I was growing up. My mom is now 84. She is the one when we were going up that verbally expressed her love for me. Mom claims she doesn't like parties and such, but growing up she was always doing things to celebrate birthdays and holidays. Nothing big like a party with 50 acquaintances and a pony, but some kind of celebration within the family to make a big deal of the birthday or event. She tried to let you know she was interested in you. And if you showed interest in something she tried to get something to help you develop the interest. She made sure we went to church each week and participated.She worked outside the home, but she was big in helping to teach us about gardening and putting food up and such. She taught us to respect others and tried to keep her four sons from beating on each other too much. She was a forgiving person and taught us to be forgiving. When she loaned me a pocketknife that had belonged to her first husband who had died years before and I lost the knife, she expressed disappointment but did not berate me endlessly. Later I realized how that must have hurt to lose one of the few things she had from her earlier husband, but she forgave me. I was interested in different things than others in my family, but she encouraged most of those interests and even tolerated my love of sports to some extent. My mom loved us each and encouraged us to show our love for each other, which most of the time was not an easy task. Thanks mom, I love you and I am thankful I had a good mom who loves me.

Dad

I am thankful for good parents that loved me when I was growing up. My dad passed away in 1995 at 90 years of age. He loved me and as he got older he showed that love more. He had a temper and expected things to be done a certain way and he would let you know when you weren't meeting his standards. He also knew how to do lots of stuff, useful stuff. He taught me to work. He wasn't satisfied with just doing a job, he wanted it done right. He was not an Adventist, but he went to church with us for many years. He allowed my brothers and me to go to church school for a few years. He was consistent in his relationship with his sons. He had integrity. He was honest. He modeled Christianity even though I never knew him to speak of being a christian. He was smart in both book learning and in horse sense. His ability to do practical things that I didn't know how to do always intimidated me. Now as I look back, I think I was more like him than I ever knew. A lot of his practical knowledge came from experience, from having to do many different things over the years. I am thankful that I grew up with a father that loved me and did everything he could to make sure I grew up to be a good man.

A shrub tries to grow into a tree!

Growing can be painful. Not necessarily physical growth, but character growth. I often seem to have to learn lessons the hard way, through the pain of mistakes. Many of these lessons could be learned from seeing the experience of others and from paying attention to the results of others actions on their lives and the lives of those around them. But no, I have to make the mistake and fail and have the poor results for myself, and often I seem to have to do it again and again and again and again and... Well you get the point. I am thankful that sometimes, not often enough I'll admit, I do learn the lesson. I am thankful that sometimes I don't keep repeating that thing I did that causes so much trouble for me and/or those around me. I've grown a little bit as a person and I'm better off for it and sometimes those around me are better off too. God in His wisdom and patience has helped me grow by giving the thing in my life that I needed, whether I knew I needed it or not.