A Thankful Thanksgiving

I am always worried that one day, years from now, or maybe even sooner, Thanksgiving will vanish and Christmas will take over, Black Friday being the only thing people are interested in.

I sure hope this doesn't happen, but I fear, as people put up their Christmas lights the week of Thanksgiving, and the Outlet Malls are playing holiday music, and having "Christmas sales", that our Thanksgiving will be pushed out of the spotlight while Christmas seeks all of the attention.

But not this Thanksgiving, this Thanksgiving I will remain loyal to this fourth Thursday of November. Often we find our selves wanting what we don't have. For instance; a brunette finds herself wishing she were blond, and dyes her hair, yet a blond finds herself wishing she were a brunette, and dyes her hair.

If someone has curly hair, they dream of straight hair, and spend a fortune to get it "chemically straightened", but still, if someone has straight hair, they dream of curly hair, and spend a fortune to get a perm.

Those who have glasses, hate them, so they get contacts. But those who have perfectly healthy eyes are in luck, because, guess what, they make no-prescription fake glasses! You see? We can't be grateful for what beautiful people God made us, so we want, want, want, and get, get, get.

I want to have a Thankful Thanksgiving, so here are a few things that I am thankful for.

I am thankful for my body, that can move and work, that I am not disabled. I am thankful for my brain that is fully functional and intelligent. I am thankful for my room, in which I can relax and think and wind down after a bad day. I am thankful for my school, with my amazing teachers, that are committed to help me learn, and their amazing efforts to teach.

I am thankful for my friends. Good and bad, that have taught me lessons that I couldn't have learned myself. For their love and generosity, for their loyalty and honesty. For their always being there when I need to just talk, and for acknowledging silently my troubles.

I am thankful for my church, where everyone feels like family, and where I have grown to learn the word of God. I am thankful for my "second family", the Wishings, whom I am neither timid or shy around, and whom I would always go to for anything if my family wasn't there.

I am thankful for my stable home, for my parents' hard work to raise me, and my brothers in Christ. And for my family, that without I don't know what I would do, and that even when we quarrel and fight, I know will always love me.

I am thankful for all the small pleasures, chocolate, new shoes, waking up on a summer's day to the bright sunshine, sitting on the beach, losing myself in the sound of the waves crashing, holding a new born baby while it sleeps peacefully, starting a new journal, being so tired I fall asleep right as my head hits the pillow, and running down the soccer field, free and untamed.

Last, and most importantly, I am thankful for Jesus Christ, author of my life, savior, who by His grace, brought me salvation. And who, wretched though I am, loves me no matter what I do or say, or how far I fall from Him. For Jesus because without Him I'd be nothing, and who with Him I am free. And for Jesus because He'll never forsake me, even when everyone else does.

This is my Thankful Thanksgiving!