I read this article by Maurine Proctor in the online Meridian Magazine. These paragraphs are at the end of the article. WOW! What a beautiful expression of gratitude on this Thanksgiving Day!
"I realized what I am most grateful for in all the universe.
I am thankful beyond expression that God is God. That’s it. That is where my gratitude is focused. Everything else springs from this understanding. What hope would there be if God were entirely different, as quixotic as the Greek and Roman gods? What could we count on if He were great, but not good? What if He were intelligent, but disinterested? What if His character had flaws, bouts of selfishness? Instead, I am astonished to be anchored by our God and all He is.
I am grateful for his beautiful character. I am awed that He combines perfect intelligence with the most personal love of me. Who is this God who loves me and smiles upon me and comforts me without turning away—and does the same for every one of us? He is beyond my imagining because everything I see and understand is limited by my shuttered eyes, but still he stands constant with an invitation to let his light fill me.
I am so grateful that in heaven there is no change of political administration, no erratic surprises, no change of rules, no change of venues. He does not alter from age to age or time to time. Since God cannot lie, I can trust his word, trust He means it, trust He is right. I am grateful that when I am found wanting, he feels the lack and feeds the hungry soul. I am grateful that God plays no favorites, has no weaknesses, gives in to nothing petty or trivial.
I am glad that bringing to pass our immortality and eternal life are his great work, and that he tells us quite frankly that he is able to do his own work. That means, even when I am discouraged and fallible, He means to succeed with me.
I am thankful that behind harsh realities—small or large—that there is a Face of Love, that this universe isn’t empty and meaningless, random and hostile, a sling of galaxies and planets flung thoughtlessly into space. I am thankful that God is utterly reliable—that He is there when I call, that his covenants are sure and his promises will absolutely be fulfilled.
Things will happen to us in our lives that tempt us from gratitude, but no matter what is momentarily subtracted from our lives, God never will be."
HAPPY THANKSGIVING! We are so blessed!!
