Days of Thanks

I am going to attempt to blog about things I am thankful for in the days leading up to Thanksgiving. Here is my first post of thanks.

A pot of hamburger vegetable soup simmering on the stovetop, made from the bounty of our pantry and refrigerator

The golden leaves on the trees outside

The big brown leaf Mark brought me to look at

The boys playing in the playhouse

Bouncy, giggling brothers making mischief in the grocery store

(My friend lost her teenage son in a tragic accident this summer. I have found myself counting the blessings of my boys in daily life as I have watched her walk through this loss. One of her favorite scriptures is Lamentations 3:22-23, “The unfailing love of the Lord never ends! By his mercies we have been kept from complete destruction. Great is his faithfulness; his mercies begin afresh each day.”)

Lord, you saw my friend’s family rise in worship yesterday, full of the hope of heaven when they will see their son and brother alive and whole again. What unshakable faith. What a different reality from the one I live in from day to day. It made me weep and stand with them, hands lifted up.

You order all of our days. You are eternal. We are frail and fleeting as the flowers.

I just finished a week of celebrating the lives of my two little boys at ages three and five. I delighted in seeing them swing with their friends and smile in the light of their birthday candles. Thank you for their laughter, for their antics in the grocery store, for their tenderness, for their tears when they leap from the swing and land hard on the ground. Thank you for the toilet filled to overflowing with tissue. Thank you for the shrub pruned by little hands preparing to “cook” something together in the playhouse. Thank you for the clippings of paper on the floor and the colored pictures that cover my kitchen windows. Thank you for the little voice that asks, “How many more minutes of quiet time?”

Warmth of the fall sunshine