"I awoke this morning with devout thanksgiving for my friends, the old & the new." — Ralph Waldo Emerson
"We would worry less if we praised more. Thanksgiving is the enemy of discontent & dissatisfaction." ― Harry A. Ironside
Thanksgiving Day
November 24, 2016
Dear FATHER,
I thank YOU for making it halfway to 100!
I thank YOU for making me & then saving me.
I thank YOU for Saint Cloud, Minnesota.
I thank YOU for the crystal clear lakes of Minnesota.
I thank YOU for the grace & mercy that YOU continuously shower upon me.
I thank YOU for my natural mother making the choice of adoption rather than abortion.
I thank YOU for the family that YOU placed me in.
I thank YOU for New Richmond, Wisconsin.
I thank YOU for my Mom & Dad.
I thank YOU that they cared enough about me to teach me about YOU.
I thank YOU for adopting me as YOUR son.
I thank YOU for the many people who taught me the BIBLE & how they helped to prepare me to live in a way that is pleasing to YOU.
I thank YOU for Saint Louis, Missouri.
I thank YOU for countless visits to Rossino's.
I thank YOU for the honor of being a STL Cardinals baseball fan.
I thank YOU for Creve Coeur Park.
I thank YOU for all my friends in the USA & throughout the world.
I thank YOU for Santo Tomás, El Salvador.
I thank YOU for protecting me during the years of drifting away from YOU.
I thank YOU for Cristiana, Jamaica.
I thank YOU for the trials & bad experiences that have built my faith & trust in YOU.
I thank YOU for Miami, Florida.
I thank YOU for the privilege of being part of "The U" family.
I thank YOU for continually filling me with faith, hope, joy, love, & peace in the midst of unbearable daily pain that YOU somehow convert into a desire within me to encourage others.
I thank YOU for Prospect Heights, Illinois.
I thank YOU for the amazing brothers & sisters in CHRIST that YOU have brought into my life.
I thank YOU for Alajuela, Costa Rica.
I thank YOU for Liga Deportiva Alajuelense.
I thank YOU for creating the perfect wife for me.
I thank YOU for Medellín, Colombia.
I thank YOU for Atlético Nacional.
I thank YOU loving me every day through my wife.
I thank YOU for Homestead, Florida.
I thank YOU for an alligator I saw just a few yards from my patio which prompted me to glide across Lake Wolfe in my kayak at night while a sliver of the moon was illuminating the water with several shades of silver & I was awestruck that something so simple exuded such an intense beauty & peace.
I thank YOU for the uniqueness of the Florida Everglades.
I thank YOU for Key West, Florida
I thank YOU for the stunning beauty of the Florida Keys.
I thank YOU for the bayous & the swamps.
I thank YOU for the mountains & the valleys.
I thank YOU for Oro Valley, Arizona.
I thank YOU for the abundant desert life.
I thank YOU for the awesomeness of the Grand Canyon.
I thank YOU for the peacefulness of a babbling brook.
Most of all, I thank YOU for YOUR unconditional love.
YOUR son,
BPK
"Not what we say about our blessings but how we use them is the true measure of our thanksgiving." — W.T. Purkiser
"Eucharisteo—thanksgiving—always precedes the miracle." ― Ann Voskamp
"Gratitude can transform common days into thanksgivings, turn routine jobs into joy, & change ordinary opportunities into blessings." ― William Arthur Ward
"I am grateful for what I am & have. My thanksgiving is perpetual. O how I laugh when I think of my vague indefinite riches. No run on my bank can drain it, for my wealth is not possession but enjoyment." ― Henry David Thoreau
"GOD smiles when we praise & thank HIM continually. Few things feel better than receiving heartfelt praise & appreciation from someone else. GOD loves it, too. An amazing thing happens when we offer praise & thanksgiving to GOD. When we give GOD enjoyment, our own hearts are filled with joy." ― William Law
"Thanksgiving is inseparable from true prayer; it is almost essentially connected with it. One who always prays is ever giving praise, whether in ease or pain, both for prosperity & for the greatest adversity. He blesses GOD for all things, looks on them as coming from HIM, & receives them for HIS sake―not choosing nor refusing, liking or disliking, anything but only as it is agreeable or disagreeable to HIS perfect will." ― John Wesley
Share this blog!
