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DEAL / Time to count our many blessings and it makes quite a list
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By Jason Deal
Thanksgiving is almost here.
At this point, I am not sure what our Thanksgiving gathering will look like at home. My brother and sister are in far-flung places like Colorado and Alabama, somewhere between here and the Altamaha River, which everyone knows is where the world drops off sort of steep.
It may be just me and my folks at the table, but that’s okay. Thanksgiving is an attitude - it isn’t confined to just one day on the calendar.
It is profound to think that America’s very first Thanksgiving was declared by President Lincoln amidst the carnage of the Civil War. It is a reminder that we don’t really know how thankful we ought to be with all the “plenty” that we have in this country.
With the arrival of the holiday, I always like to think about the things I am thankful for.
A few years ago, our pastor mentioned an exercise in one of his sermons I think is a good idea for us all. He encouraged us to take a sheet of paper and write down our troubles and on another sheet write down our blessings. If we are honest with ourselves, the blessings sheet is a lot longer. It was that case with me. I think it helps us to focus on how much we are really blessed.
Here are some things I am thankful for:
• I am thankful to a gracious and loving God who is so very good to me, in spite of myself.
• I am thankful for my church and for the privilege to live in a country where I have the freedom to worship as I please.
• I am thankful for my family - mama and daddy, my sister and her husband, my baby brother and my niece and nephew.
• I am thankful for sweet and precious memories - how they linger. I am privileged to have known all of my grandparents except one - my maternal grandfather. I was privileged for a time to be able to work in an area where people still remembered him and told me stories of him. I was especially blessed to know my Grandma Jones and my Grandma and Granddaddy Deal.
• I am thankful to live in a good community and to also work in one.
• I am thankful for good health. I have had a health issue recently. Thankfully, it is nothing serious, but it has required changes to my routines and habits. I’ll have more to say about that in a future column.
• I am thankful for my bosses, who pay me for something I love to do. I am also thankful for all of my co-workers for putting up with me.
• I am thankful for all those people who help me keep up with everything. They include all the various boards, elected officials, support staff and my sources. I can’t name them all for fear of leaving them out, but they know who they are.
• I am thankful for my friends. They have been a blessing and I appreciate their contributions to my life.
Here are a couple of humorous thanksgiving observations for you.
• I am thankful that Tim Tebow will eventually have to graduate from the University of Florida. It’s hard not to like the guy, but he simply wears the wrong colors.
• I am also thankful there is an off button on my television. I use it often.
Let’s go back serious for a minute.
In closing, I am thankful for all the things I don’t have that I wouldn’t want. Think about that one for a few minutes. It’s deep.
These are but a few things that I am thankful for and it’s just the beginning of the list.
Happy Thanksgiving!
• Jason Deal is a staff writer for The Blackshear Times. Email: jdeal@theblacksheartimes.com.
At this point, I am not sure what our Thanksgiving gathering will look like at home. My brother and sister are in far-flung places like Colorado and Alabama, somewhere between here and the Altamaha River, which everyone knows is where the world drops off sort of steep.
It may be just me and my folks at the table, but that’s okay. Thanksgiving is an attitude - it isn’t confined to just one day on the calendar.
It is profound to think that America’s very first Thanksgiving was declared by President Lincoln amidst the carnage of the Civil War. It is a reminder that we don’t really know how thankful we ought to be with all the “plenty” that we have in this country.
With the arrival of the holiday, I always like to think about the things I am thankful for.
A few years ago, our pastor mentioned an exercise in one of his sermons I think is a good idea for us all. He encouraged us to take a sheet of paper and write down our troubles and on another sheet write down our blessings. If we are honest with ourselves, the blessings sheet is a lot longer. It was that case with me. I think it helps us to focus on how much we are really blessed.
Here are some things I am thankful for:
• I am thankful to a gracious and loving God who is so very good to me, in spite of myself.
• I am thankful for my church and for the privilege to live in a country where I have the freedom to worship as I please.
• I am thankful for my family - mama and daddy, my sister and her husband, my baby brother and my niece and nephew.
• I am thankful for sweet and precious memories - how they linger. I am privileged to have known all of my grandparents except one - my maternal grandfather. I was privileged for a time to be able to work in an area where people still remembered him and told me stories of him. I was especially blessed to know my Grandma Jones and my Grandma and Granddaddy Deal.
• I am thankful to live in a good community and to also work in one.
• I am thankful for good health. I have had a health issue recently. Thankfully, it is nothing serious, but it has required changes to my routines and habits. I’ll have more to say about that in a future column.
• I am thankful for my bosses, who pay me for something I love to do. I am also thankful for all of my co-workers for putting up with me.
• I am thankful for all those people who help me keep up with everything. They include all the various boards, elected officials, support staff and my sources. I can’t name them all for fear of leaving them out, but they know who they are.
• I am thankful for my friends. They have been a blessing and I appreciate their contributions to my life.
Here are a couple of humorous thanksgiving observations for you.
• I am thankful that Tim Tebow will eventually have to graduate from the University of Florida. It’s hard not to like the guy, but he simply wears the wrong colors.
• I am also thankful there is an off button on my television. I use it often.
Let’s go back serious for a minute.
In closing, I am thankful for all the things I don’t have that I wouldn’t want. Think about that one for a few minutes. It’s deep.
These are but a few things that I am thankful for and it’s just the beginning of the list.
Happy Thanksgiving!
• Jason Deal is a staff writer for The Blackshear Times. Email: jdeal@theblacksheartimes.com.
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| WILLIAMS / Treasure is aplenty on Sapelo Island |
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Alice W. wrote on Nov 30, 2009 6:16 PM: