First and foremost I am thankful for my Creator,  the God of the universe from who all good things come. I don’t care how old the planet is; it’s amazing and I’m thankful for having had the chance to freely experience it as a conscious life form with the miraculous ability to discern its beauty and experience its many splendors.

To think, to love, to feel, to sense, to sing, to pray, to weep, to smile.. there is no science to explain these things. And I thank God for that. Thank God He ensured some things would remain mysteries to compel us to search within ourselves for the answers, and not in the geological strata.

Thank God for the PERFECTLY TUNED UNIVERSE and all of its perfected laws that allow life to be possible here. I recently learned the mathematical equation for the probability of  a single cell’s ability to produce human life form would require 30 books, each 500 pages in length, to document And you stopped playing the lotto because the odds were stacked too high against you.

Next I’m thankful for my family. The image I included in this article is from TMZ’s recent “Wacky Family Picture Contest”  is not of my family, but it may as well be. See that little guy melting down in the foreground? That’s my son on one of his good days when he was younger.   See that kid in the background leaning against his dad wearing a glass of red kool aid on his shirt? That’s me as a kid–only difference is that  my shirt would have be soaked in another substance…  from my own mouth (after too many hours trapped in the car with my siblings on windy roads). See the girl? That’s my daughter..  or my sister… or any other teenage girl wishing she was somewhere else. As for the Dad, that’s also me… or my Dad… or his Dad. Of course the matrirach is behind the camera, selflessly putting the family first, as she always does. God love her. And God love my own wife who continues to put her family first. Thank you.

And where is this family in the image? Perhaps atop some rock formation somewhere (no wonder little Johnny is so pissed off). But it’s not about the destination is it? It’s about the journey. My younger brother reminded me of that about 10 years ago as we walked through a zoo one 100 degree day with my two difficult little ones in tow. My wife and I were stressed (me more than her), and I was so anxious to finish our tour and get the kids home where we could feed the TV to them and get some peace. My brother reminded me to slow down and enjoy the journey. I’m thankful to him for that small but extraordinary piece of advice. I have never forgotten it. As a result I have enjoyed these years with my kids much more than I would have had I never come to know that truth.

My brother must have been paying closer attention to our parents’ example growing up. I”m thankful my parents understood the concept of the journey, too. No wonder they dragged us to places like Canada in the summer. My folks didn’t care where we were going, they just wanted us out on that road, experiencing new people and places together. I get the chills when I think about how much they have always loved my siblings and I. I could not be more grateful for the example they gave me on the meaning of family values.  I may not be the best husband and parent the world has ever known, but I will NEVER quit striving to be.

Finally I’m thankful for the opportunities this great country has afforded me to freely pursue my vocation and seek the divine truth I have found. I can only hope and pray that Americans will focus more on their similarities than on their differences. There are so many forces out there that are trying to divide us. We mustn’t let them. We must beat them back with the light of love. I’m thankful there are enough people who are willing to keep fighting the good fight.

And now a word from Abraham Lincoln on the meaning of Thanksgiving

In the middle of the American Civil War, President Abraham Lincoln, prompted by a series of editorials written by Sarah Josepha Hale,[10] proclaimed a national Thanksgiving Day, to be celebrated on the final Thursday in November 1863:

The year that is drawing towards its close, has been filled with the blessings of fruitful fields and healthful skies. To these bounties, which are so constantly enjoyed that we are prone to forget the source from which they come, others have been added, which are of so extraordinary a nature, that they cannot fail to penetrate and soften even the heart which is habitually insensible to the ever watchful providence of Almighty God.

In the midst of a civil war of unequalled magnitude and severity, which has sometimes seemed to foreign States to invite and to provoke their aggression, peace has been preserved with all nations, order has been maintained, the laws have been respected and obeyed, and harmony has prevailed everywhere except in the theatre of military conflict; while that theatre has been greatly contracted by the advancing armies and navies of the Union. Needful diversions of wealth and of strength from the fields of peaceful industry to the national defence, have not arrested the plough, the shuttle, or the ship; the axe had enlarged the borders of our settlements, and the mines, as well of iron and coal as of the precious metals, have yielded even more abundantly than heretofore. Population has steadily increased, notwithstanding the waste that has been made in the camp, the siege and the battle-field; and the country, rejoicing in the consciousness of augmented strength and vigor, is permitted to expect continuance of years, with large increase of freedom.

No human counsel hath devised nor hath any mortal hand worked out these great things. They are the gracious gifts of the Most High God, who, while dealing with us in anger for our sins, hath nevertheless remembered mercy.

It has seemed to me fit and proper that they should be solemnly, reverently and gratefully acknowledged as with one heart and voice by the whole American people. I do therefore invite my fellow citizens in every part of the United States, and also those who are at sea and those who are sojourning in foreign lands, to set apart and observe the last Thursday of November next, as a day of Thanksgiving and Praise to our beneficent Father who dwelleth in the Heavens. And I recommend to them that while offering up the ascriptions justly due to Him for such singular deliverances and blessings, they do also, with humble penitence for our national perverseness and disobedience, commend to his tender care all those who have become widows, orphans, mourners or sufferers in the lamentable civil strife in which we are unavoidably engaged, and fervently implore the interposition of the Almighty Hand to heal the wounds of the nation and to restore it as soon as may be consistent with the Divine purposes to the full enjoyment of peace, harmony, tranquility and Union.

In testimony whereof, I have hereunto set my hand, and caused the seal of the United States to be affixed.

Done at the city of Washington, this third day of October, in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and sixty-three, and of the independence of the United States the eighty-eighth.”

Proclamation of President Abraham Lincoln, October 3, 1863.[10]

Since 1863, Thanksgiving has been observed annually in the United States   -Wikipedia

Happy Thanksgiving

Blessings to you and yours,

Mark