What Am I Thankful For?

I think thankfulness is a character trait almost devoid in many people.  So many have come to expect, and not realize true gratitude when they are given something.  That "something" might be as small and immeasurable as someone's time, but nonetheless, we should be thankful for that gift.

So, what am I thankful for?

I am thankful for abundance in all its forms.

Particularly I am thankful for an abundance of family.  And when I say family, I mean past, present and future.  Our families give us our roots and our wings.  I have done some genealogy and I have some great roots.  There are some wonderful people in my past, some known personally by me and some not, but some wonderful people.  And some characters!  We all need characters in our family.  My family presently isn't so much with me, but all around.  Do we get together or communicate as much as we should?  Well, no.  The family that can do that should be grateful!  But even so, I am surrounded.  And future?  How many of us can say we think of our future families?  Those yet to come, our progeny and descendants.  I have begun that phase in life called grand parenting.  One is here, one is on the way to arrive in June, and many more are yet to come.  Again, I feel surrounded. 

I am surrounded by an abundance of family.

What else?

I am thankful for the abundance of opportunity.  And for a country that affords me the opportunities to do so many things - freedoms really - to make my own way in life.  The freedoms to act and not be acted upon.  Surely we are acted upon every day, but with an abundance of opportunities we are able to take ourselves and make of ourselves.  Some think that is to find riches, and maybe it is.  But not necessarily riches in a financial sense.  There are riches all around us that we enjoy, and certainly we must be thankful for that. Great men got together and saw the hope in a creation that would provide me, and the rest of us, this great day.  We must take advantage of it and not let it slip through our fingers.  So that we can continue to act and not be acted upon.

I am surrounded by an abundance of opportunity.

What else?

I am thankful for the abundance of love.  Love proffered me and love I can give.  Love takes many forms, and some forms are so very gentle and soft they are nearly imperceptible.  But it is there even still.  Love is given and received every day.  We better understand the reception of love when we give it.  We better understand the giving of love when we accept what is proffered us.  I feel love in many ways.  Even in the simplicity of a phone call.  Sure I would prefer to look into eyes than hear a voice, but there is magic in those voices when I hear them!  Love is like sand or water - hard to hold on to.  So it must be a continual thing, one that flows to and from each of us as regularly as we breath.  And in doing that, it will only grow.  I am ever thankful for the greatest love of all, which was offered that I might have life, and that I might have it more abundantly.  That is a love hard for me to comprehend completely, but nonetheless, I am thankful.

I am surrounded by an abundance of love.

So, as I contemplate Thanksgiving, and grateful for a wonderful country that celebrates such a notion, I contemplate things such as these.  And their abundance.  Some things are hard to plant and nourish and grow.  But we can.  We are here to do that. 

AND I WANT TO DO IT MORE COMPLETELY.

This post is a submission to the DocuSign/ActiveRain Thankful Contest. It's possible I will win a prize for writing this post. You could win a prize too by going to the Contest Announcement and sharing your own story.  And I am thankful for the opportunity to be a part of it!