November is upon us, and with it comes the wonderful holiday
we call Thanksgiving. We all know the
history of that great American tradition, and the memories we have formed with
our families conjure up thoughts of food, football, cousins, shopping, traveling,
and more food. But it is also a day when
our nation as a whole pauses to “count our blessings.” Even though Christians should be thankful
DAILY, most of us are more aware of being thankful in this month of
Thanksgiving.
When I consider my blesssings, the ones I treasure the most
in this life are the relationships I have with other people. My all-time favorite movie is “It’s a
Wonderful Life.” I love this movie because
of the premise behind it, as summed up by Clarence in this quote: “Strange, isn't it? Each man's life touches
so many other lives. When he isn't around he leaves an awful hole, doesn't he?” Watching that movie always makes me think
about those who have touched my life, and made me who I am. I think I don’t do enough to thank those
people.
For the month of November, I will undertake a “Thanksgiving
project.” For the 30 days of the month,
I will post about 30 people who have touched my life over the past 46 years. I sat down yesterday to make a list of 30,
and I quickly came up with a list of twice that number without much thought – a
list which will easily grow as I take the time to think more about it. Some are people who have briefly crossed my
path, others have come and stayed a while but are now gone, and then a few are
lifetime relationships. I treasure them
all, for without each of them, I would not be who and where I am in this life –
there would be that “awful hole” that Clarence spoke about.
Since I’m planning to do one entry a day for 30 days, I
obviously cannot include every person on my “list.” I will draw a name randomly each day, so they
will be in no particular order. I will regretfully
be forced to leave out some important people.
If you are reading this, you are on that list, whether you find an
individual entry about yourself or not.
My life is better because of you, and “I thank my God upon every
remembrance of you.”
