Saturday, November 21, 2020

#givethanks day 1

 
We all know that 2020 has been a wild ride.  So.  Many.  Things.  are out there to bother us, make us anxious and afraid, drain our energy, and leave us feeling weak and alone.  Yesterday, the prophet of our church, who in his professional life was a renowned cardio-thoracic surgeon, said that the prescription for this spiritual illness was to cultivate a grateful heart, and flood social media with gratitude for the next seven days.  
 
I don't have much time to blog during the school week, so I love that this week we are out of school.  I very much need the break, and I want (and need) to embark on this journey to spiritual healing.  This year has been so, so HARD in so many ways, for everyone.  Being a teacher just ratchets that up a notch.

In 2017, my family asked me what I wanted for Christmas.  I said I wanted family pictures.  For the first time in several years, we were able to get together for Thanksgiving.  My daughter took on the task of organizing us all, planning the photo, and making it happen.  Her amazing husband acted as the photographer.  I am so very thankful to them for their efforts.  To me, these photos are priceless.
 
Normally, we're like this photo above - scattered across the country and each doing our own thing, but for this one 5-day period in 2017 we got to be together, and memorialize it with these pictures.  


In fact, I think this photo is my favorite of all.  My grandson apparently decided we were done and ran off to play.  We urged him to come back and he made it back into the photo, but not quite the way we planned.  This pic makes me laugh.  I <3 <3 <3 the expressions on everyone's faces as we all watch him run back into the frame.  Just like this pic, despite our efforts to be "normal", we're a pretty crazy bunch.  
 

And now we have another sweet little spirit to bless our family, who is just a month old today.  What a little sweetheart this one is.   How I loved the time I got to spend with her family last week.

Oh, how very grateful I am for this amazing (but slightly crazy) family of mine!  They fill my life with joy and make it worth getting out of bed every day.  Each of them has a special place in my heart.  I thank my Heavenly Father every day for every one of them.

 
***If you'd like to join in, take a minute to ponder something you are grateful for, and then, if you wish, publish it on social media to create a 7-day gratitude journal you can revisit again and again.  (I find that these journaling efforts are very therapeutic to review from time to time, especially when I'm going through a rough patch.)  Use the hashtag #givethanks .  I pray it helps your spirit heal, as well as mine.


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