Fall into Thanksgiving!

As I opened the blinds to the two long windows in our living room that looks over our front yard and the neighborhood beyond us this morning, my attention was drawn to the Red Double Knockout Rose bush I planted last summer.  It really took off a few months back and has been producing a plentitude of gorgeous blooms.  I stood at the window for a few extended moments in the quiet solitude of the early morning and found myself thanking Papa God for the beauty of that particular bush as well as for the beauty of the surroundings within our neighborhood.

After assisting my wife with breakfast a little while later, I sat down in my chair at the dining room table and pressed the Home button on my new iPhone 7 Plus and looked over the various alerts that had popped up on the screen throughout the night and early morning.  One of messages was from the ABC 11 app from a Raleigh TV station. 

As I’ve most likely mentioned before, we live in a country neighborhood in the small agricultural county of Harnett.  But even though we are away from city lights, noise and traffic, we are only about 30 minutes due south of North Carolina’s State Capital at Raleigh.  So, Raleigh’s major network news stations also cover our area even though we are in a different county.

Anyway… The ABC 11 news app posted on my phone read: “LITTLE MORE LIKE FALL TODAY!”  The weather for the last couple of weeks has been ranging from the high eighties to low nineties and it was even warmer yesterday.  But today everything changed!  Today’s forecast and continuing into the middle of next week calls for the temperature to hover in the mid-seventies and then the very low eighties for a while after that.  So it looks like fall has finally taken hold here in North Carolina.

Like my quiet moments of contemplation at the front window this morning, fall is the season of the year that always causes me to look back on the past year and thank God for all the blessings that He has bestowed on us during the other three seasons of the current year.  Psalm 100 immediately comes to mind and especially verse four where the Psalmist boldly declares that he will “Enter into his gates with thanksgiving, and into his courts with praise: be thankful unto him, and bless his name.” (KJV) 

So therefore at this time of year I tend to look at everything around me with the eyes and heart of thanksgiving unto Papa God.  Whether it is the red roses, golden Marigolds and the red Geranium I planted at the beginning of the summer in the front or the tall green vegetable plants in their special raised bed planter along with all the tall trees, green vines and variety of flowers that popped out from those vines throughout the summer months in the backyard, I am so thankful for another year of enjoyment in the home that the good Lord provided for us.

I am happy and thankful that I had the privilege of celebrating my precious wife’s birthday in August, especially since I wasn’t too positive that she would see that day after a rough start at the beginning of the new year back in January.  I am also thankful for the new friends we’ve made in the neighborhood, around town and especially with all the helpful and giving folks at Liberty Hospice who are helping me with Piper’s needs. 

I am thankful for our kids and their love and support and especially for our older daughter Jamie and her daily calls, texts and our weekly get togethers, as well as for my almost daily conversations with my cousin Laura in California.  I always enjoy her family news, encouraging words and timely antidotes!  And yes I am also thankful for our 65 pound Blue Merle Australian Shepherd mix pup who gives me hours of laughter and enjoyment each and every day… and the list could go on and on, but then the post would get too long and nobody would read it!

Fall also gets me excited about the approaching holidays and then the start of a brand new year.  So what about each of you?  What are you thankful for during the events of your life over this last year?  For a moment, just forget the down times and the rough moments and concentrate on the good things that you can be thankful for.  I would bet you that you’ll be surprised at just how good a year it actually has been!

Have a great weekend as you spend some time looking for and then thanking God for His many blessings over this year… and as you do, keep asking yourself… “How many GOOD THINGS am I expecting to be thankful for today?”