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Thursday, November 22, 2007
Happy Thanksgiving!!

Thankfulness
THANK'FULNESS,n. Expression of gratitude; acknowledgment of a favor.
1. Gratitude; a lively sense of good received.
The celebration of these holy mysteries being ended, retire with all thankfulness of heart for having been admitted to that heavenly feast.
Thankfulness. It is a word whose definition we don't much associate with today. Not in families. Not in churches. Not in everyday life. I have to admit that I could easily name the things I am thankful for, like family, my husband's job, food on the table, good friends. I could name the basic everyday things I am truly thankful for, but not the deep things. I am thankful for my husband, but not when he disagrees with what I want. I am thankful for his job, but not when he leaves at 7am and gets home at 8pm. I am thankful for my children, but not when they don't do their schoolwork and chores. I am thankful for friends, but not when make choices I wouldn't make. I am thankful for the cool crisp Indiana fall weather, but I am not looking forward to the winter.
Is this just human nature? To be thankful when I am happy and ungrateful for that which I am 'thankful' when things don't go the way I want? When I don't get my way?
There are many friends and acquaintances who are experiencing loss that I may never - and I hope I never - experience. Am I thankful, am I grateful, for my health? Or only when I am sick or someone I know gets sick am I grateful for my health?
I am not thankful the way I need to be. I used to praise the Lord a lot more than I do. I used to gush praise. I have lost that gush. I need to get it back. I need to be thankful because I am thankful. Do I need a reason to be thankful? I don't think I do. I don't think I should need a reason. Perhaps it is just something I should always be, and then I will always feel and act thankful. If I am thankful in all things, then I just am, for both the small things and the large things.GratitudeGRAT'ITUDE, n. [L. gratitudo, from gratus, pleasing. See Grace.]
An emotion of the heart, excited by a favor or benefit received; a sentiment of kindness or good will towards a benefactor; thankfulness. Gratitude is an agreeable emotion, consisting in or accompanied with good will to a benefactor,and a disposition to make a suitable return of benefits or services, or when no return can be made, with a desire to see the benefactor prosperous and happy. Gratitude is a virtue of the highest excellence, as it implies a feeling and generous heart, and a proper sense of duty.
The love of God is the sublimest gratitude.
I am not saying there aren't times when it takes a great deal to be thankful, but, for the most part, we don't have too much to not be thankful for. And, if we do have something that is not worthy of being thankful for (like an illness or a loss), then I must be thankful for what God is working through that in my life. I said in my review of Chapters 1-3 in The Hedge of Thorns that I think we complicate things in life too much. Either I am a thankful person or I am a person who thinks I am owed, so I do not have to be thankful. I do not want to have to 'work up' that feeling of thankfulness. I want to just 'be thankful' all the time.
GRA'TEFULNESS, n. The quality of being grateful; gratitude.
1. The quality of being agreeable or pleasant to the mind or to the taste.
Ungratefulness. What an ugly thing. It's that question your child asks you when you give him a good-sized piece of pumpkin pie, with a huge dollop of whipped topping because you were being ex-tree nice, and he still says, "That other piece was bigger." Blank stare. Do you suppose Our Heavenly Father gives us that same blank stare? I know I have been - usually am - deserved of that blank stare. I can hear Him saying, "Jacque, are you kidding me? I know you know better than that. Please wake up and come back to me. See what you already know? Come back to it. Be thankful. Be grateful. This is a love like no other. This is something that is so much more valuable than all those other things you look at. Be a thankful person. Be grateful. I am looking out for you. I am watching all things and keepingyou from things you have no idea... as I always have. Be thankful. Learn from this. Learn patience and real love. Learn to be dignified. Live what you have learned."
What is He saying to you? Are you a thankful person? I often am too frustrated to be grateful. What a pity. What joy I could know in being thankful. What I am missing out on.
Thank YOU Lord. Thank YOU for leading, guiding and directing my steps, even when I am ungratefully choosing to walk in the opposite direction. The LORD truly is all in all.
grace did much more abound."
Romans 5
blessings! -Jacque
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Thursday, November 22, 2007 - Untitled Comment
Posted by quietcajun
Ah, yes! and what a Crank-enstien I can be sometimes! May I learn from your example and focus on my blessings!!!!
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Thursday, November 22, 2007 - Untitled Comment
Posted by LeviSuarez
Thank you for commenting on my blog!
Mmmmmm!! Eggs and turkey bacon - sounds really good!
I wish I could have been there.
Hope to see you again soon, Auntie.
Your friend,
Levi
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