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Ten Things of Thankful: It's the Big Week! Edition

 

A vintage image of a child pulling a pumpkin in a wagon, with the caption, "Thanksgiving Greeting. A pumpkin I bring you for Thanksgiving Day, With wishes that plenty may e'er with you stay."

It's here: the week of Thanksgiving in the United States, when "We gather together" and reflect on "the joy of human love, brother, sister, parent, child" as well as "friends on earth, and friends above." We feast and enjoy the warmth of shelter and good company. Participating in the Ten Things of Thankful is a fitting way to kick off the week. 

The Ten Things of Thankful blog hop, by nature of its title if nothing else, encourages us to enumerate (to 10) things we are thankful for, but also is flexible enough to not require an exact count. Also, as Clark has dubbed "hypo-grats," allowance is made for things that wouldn't appear to fit, but provide opportunity to develop an attitude of gratitude. ("What doesn't kill you makes you stronger.")

So, in this week of Thanksgiving, for this TTOT, I will not count, but I will recognize and acknowledge. And the Ten Things of Thankful deserves a place on my (non-enumerated) list, for it has helped frame my experiences in a thankful perspective. 

Two weeks ago, my brother and his wife were in town. While they were with us, we got to reflecting on when the last time was that we (siblings and parents) had all been together. That got me to thinking about when the last time I visited my parents was, and the next thing you know, John and I had booked airfare to Oregon--choosing the weekend (this one) that I knew my brother and his wife would be there, too. Our sister couldn't make it this time, but we have plans for a gathering with all of us early next year. 

John and I will return to Utah in time for Thanksgiving, when our oldest son and his wife are scheduled to come stay with us for a few days. I'm looking forward to seeing them.

Our oldest daughter will visit at Christmastime, and (though we don't have details figured out yet) we hope to see our middle daughter and our grandchildren in December, as well. 

I'm also thankful for our children who live nearby and who we get to see on a regular basis. 

I'll wrap this up quickly (I'm still at my parents' house right now and want to maximize family time) with a quote from Dieter F. Uchtdorf's address, "Grateful in Any Circumstance." 

Perhaps focusing on what we are grateful for is the wrong approach. It is difficult to develop a spirit of gratitude if our thankfulness is only proportional to the number of blessings we can count. True, it is important to frequently “count our blessings”—and anyone who has tried this knows there are many—but I don’t believe the Lord expects us to be less thankful in times of trial than in times of abundance and ease. In fact, most of the scriptural references do not speak of gratitude for things but rather suggest an overall spirit or attitude of gratitude.
It is easy to be grateful for things when life seems to be going our way. But what then of those times when what we wish for seems to be far out of reach?

Could I suggest that we see gratitude as a disposition, a way of life that stands independent of our current situation? In other words, I’m suggesting that instead of being thankful for things, we focus on being thankful in our circumstances—whatever they may be.

I hope you have a wonderful Thanksgiving week, no matter where you are living or what your circumstances might be. Feel free to join the Ten Things of Thankful blog hop!

 

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