"Thank You"

     Okay, so sue me: I'm starting a day or two early with thanksgiving... and right now, I'm thanking the Lord for the magnificent, neon yellow mum my sweet sister gave me a few weeks back.  This thing is HUGE and is blooming to beat the band.  And most miraculously of all, I have not yet managed to kill it!  God is good.
     Every time we walk in and out of the kitchen door, this beauty welcomes us in all it's showy glory.  Just another reason to thank the Lord, the Creator of color and blooms and fall foliage and cool autumn winds.  O, to be able to see the quiet beauty of fall!  We will never take it for granted--yet another blessing from our journey with Janie.
     Lord, as I think about being free to walk outside and run to the grocery store and witness the fall leaves and sleep in my own bed, my heart aches for those feeling trapped within the walls of hospitals.  I pray that You might heal them by Your power and hold them in Your love.  Might they clearly see evidence today of Your love, even if they cannot leave the confines of their rooms.  And Father, give wisdom and skill to the nurses and doctors as they minister and help.  Might they too know that You are with them, strengthening, upholding them for the work for which You have gifted them.
     Yes, life seems beautifully different now--colors more radiant, sounds more vivid, friends more cherished, home and hearth more valued.  Not the stuff... rather the joy, the love, the beauty that lies hidden behind the stuff.
      We hold life's simplest, freest gifts with open, grateful hands, mindful of how much He has saved us from and saved us to... we, so undeserving of the riches of His grace and mercy.  Each moment can become a holy sacrament of thanksgiving: walking Moses on the leaf-strewn greenway--a pathway of praise--eating a simple meal in the kitchen together, breathing deep the moist, cool air, baking a cake for the first time in months, lighting a candle and smelling pine trees and mountains. Sitting down with Bible and pen in the momentary quiet. Going to the grocery store just today with Janie.  Who knew such a trip could almost bring me to tears of gratitude?
     Thank You, Father.  So inadequate, but what else can we say to the One who has given all and done all and who was, and is, and is to come?  Our forever I AM.  With us and for us each day, each hour, each moment--past, present, and future.  
     And so we pray with--and for--grateful hearts, Lord.  For hearts full of praise for You, love for people, and thanksgiving for all.
     "If the only prayer you said in your whole life was, 'thank you,' that would suffice."  Meister Eckhart
      Thank You.  To God be the glory.