I am thankful

The older I get, the more I realize the importance of the little things that are right in front of me to appreciate all year long. So, once again, as we celebrate Thanksgiving, this uniquely American holiday, here is the list of blessings for which I am thankful in 2012.

First and foremost, I am thankful to God, who gives me what the Bible calls “a peace that passes all understanding.” This was at the core of the first Thanksgiving celebration in Colonial America, as red men shared their bounty with white men, and early Americans gave thanks to Almighty God for the gift of life.

I am thankful for my loving bride, Becky, a beautiful, talented, godly woman who has borne my troubles and my child, who has been my life partner and my prayer warrior, my trusted counselor and my best friend for almost 41 years and counting.

I am thankful our son, Shane. He grew up far too fast, and as he went out to make his own way in the world, he has left behind a trail of memories for his mother and me. This Thanksgiving, as always, we will once again rejoice in he and his wife's company and the gift of the three (soon to be four) grandchildren they have given us.

I am thankful for the people in my life who know me well and still love me. You know who you are. As I told someone the other day, the people who love us will still be here long after the people we try so hard to impress have forgotten our names.

I am thankful for the Founders of the United States of America, who risked their lives, their fortunes and their sacred honor that I might be born in a free country. When I consider the odds of having been placed here in this nation at this moment in time, I cannot do the math. With so many billions of people in this world who live in political, economic and/or spiritual bondage, I am in awe of the blessing God has granted me.

I am thankful for the Declaration of Independence, which acknowledges that my rights come from God, not from man. I am thankful for the Constitution — especially the First Amendment, which guarantees us the right to worship God freely and me the right to express my opinions freely every day.

I am thankful that I still live in a Constitutional Republic, where the ballot box has consequences and the people are able to make corrections to the course on which our leaders have put our nation, and that in this land I love, power is transferred peacefully, following free and open elections.

We have plenty of problems. Political scandal, fiscal cliffs, budgets, tyrants and corruption — all these will be there next week as topics about which I can groan about next week. This week, I just want to be thankful.

May we all be thankful, and may God richly bless America and her people in these trying times.