Giving Thanks

Giving Thanks

My Pen Mates,

Without uttering a word, my wife shows a heart perpetually giving thanks. Looking into her eyes in the first waking moments, I see a happy soul, content not so much with all she has, but with the prospect of a day where her heart will reflect joy. I and my children are blessed to share our waking hours with this calm, confident, and composed woman. In our slumber, when our eyelids descend to let darkness claim us, our dreams are colored by the lingering presence of her nurturance and kindness.

Blessings are answers to prayers unexpressed. I've lived my life expecting to be happy with no idea of how to achieve it. I've hinged success on material possession and physical attributes; looked at the world as a trophy to take ownership of, a stage to impress both my audience and my fellow performers. My longing for inner peace was assuaged by ritual and visits to a room with pews where I find both solace and absolution. My conversations with my Provider employed words and selfish pleadings. Yet in His way, what I need is provided. In His wisdom, my wants are cast aside to reveal what my soul longs for. In my Creator's boundless grace and mercy, my solitude is engulfed by bounties of freedom, love, and the presence of unrequested, unknown, and unfathomable souls. I am provided for; my wife is a gift, my children are treasures laid upon our hands to nurture, our livelihoods are bridges we have to keep on traversing to exist in this temporal world. I am thankful for this clarity as I perceive it. While the world will constantly challenge and distort this view, I can close my eyes when I lay down to rest and know, KNOW! that my life is in good hands.

Mon