Thinking about being Thankful!

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2 days before Thanksgiving and getting ready for a trip to Williamsburg, VA with my family (pictured above, missing 2: our “bonus” daughter and my wonderfully supportive husband who is taking the picture). We will spend the holiday with my parents in a condo they have rented for all of us.

Before I get back to my “to do” list, I wanted to take time to sit down and think about what it is that I am thankful for today (sticking to the theme of the week).

My first thoughts are that I am thankful for the time we will all have together and the opportunity to plan and prepare Thanksgiving dinner for everyone while ”on the road!” Yes, I am crazy like that, I love planning and preparing special meals that will hopefully stir old memories and maybe offer more stories for the future. Kind of bummed that we are using store bought pies (Mom’s idea, since she thought that home made dessert supplies, along with all the other recipe requirements for the day and kid supplies would be too much for me to pack). As much as I like making Thanksgiving dinner, I like the dessert creations the best! We will see how the packing goes!

Then, my thoughts go deeper regarding thankfulness:
My life has been an incredible journey so far, with joys that have overwhelmed and heartaches that nearly broke me. Throughout, I have never felt alone. There have been times when I have had to get through difficult and even traumatic struggles with no one person to lean on, and I have experienced rare, precious and beautiful gifts and looked around to see nobody to share them, or understand why I am amazed. One day I will share more of my experiences with you and perhaps I will find that you too have traveled the same roads I have. For today though, I choose to stay on the surface with you, peering through the depths to understand how and who I am.

Even though it may have appeared that I was alone at times in my journey in life, I can honestly say that I have always felt a deep connection to a Presence that goes beyond anything I can explain in words. Since I was a little child, this Presence has been like a second skin, one that I cannot imagine not being there. Since I have always been aware of It, even during the times when I tried to ignore It, I trust beyond all questioning that It will always be there. I can’t say that I take this connection for granted though, we are too deeply fused as One through all we have been through together. Imagine a bandaid that has stayed on too long and has to be soaked in water to avoid the pain of separation. After time, pieces of the bandaid (the cotton fibers especially) and the skin intertwine, depend on one another and eventually can’t be recognized as separate any longer. Maybe that is a way to explain how I relate to a Presence that goes beyond my language.

Maybe my modern day wordless understanding of this Presence is the Divine self description in the Hebrew Testament, translated to “I AM,” or “I AM that I AM.” A description of that which is, in human terms, indescribable in completeness. The Divine mystery we often limit with our descriptions, but is it possible to explain the limitless in fullness?

So, to sum up what it is that I am most thankful for: the continual Presence that has been with me since my birth and will continue until the end of my earthly days, the day we will dance together in heaven, I am most thankful for the unlimited, indescribable, unending
Divine Presence that will never let me go!