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Health & Fitness

Thanksgiving: Beyond the food

It is said that Christmas is "the most wonderful time of the year", and this is true in its own way. I, however, am a sucker for Thanksgiving, because it is the one time of the year that people, no matter from what cloth they are cut, gather together with friends and family and focus on what matters.

And what matters?, you ask. Simple. Being thankful.

For myself, thankfulness comes from a spiritual level, being thankful for Christ Jesus and Th New Covenant of Salvation, being thankful for family, for health, for having a roof over my head, and a beautiful bride and daughters. While it is true I am not wealthy by worldly standards, I am a rich man indeed, because I have something surrounding me that can only be described as LOVE. And LOVE is beyond human value, beyond human grasping, beyond the food of this season. LOVE is everything that is good, worthy, and permanent.

LOVE is found in the warm embrace of friends, the laughter of our children, the reassuring squeeze of your hand by a loved one. LOVE permeates the very air we breathe, giving strength to our bones and peace to our souls.

LOVE brings us to that mystical place of thankfulness, despite what the news may tell us, or our immediate circumstances reveal to our human eyes. LOVE demands we set aside an ever so brief moment in time and simply smile in gratitude, taking inventory of our lives and the true wealth we have that cannot be measured by human means or our finite human understanding.

My friends, be thankful for what you have. Be thankful for what you might not have. Consider your lives as gifts that only you receive, designed to be blessings to others, for in blessing one another we manifest LOVE.

And isn't LOVE what matters?

Make peace with your enemies. Soothe over hurts and wounds you have been given and those you gave as well. Humble your hearts and rest in the peace of humility. Be happy. Be content. Be thankful. Let LOVE control your tongues and your hands, and embrace this moment.

Happy Thanksgiving from my House to yours. Let thankfulness and LOVE be made known. Start at home and then show it outside the doors of your houses. Let LOVE be contagious, infectious, and unrelenting.

We all have so much to be thankful for, indeed.

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