Thanksgiving - The Forgotten Holiday

I was walking down the aisles of a store the other day. On one side of the aisle was Halloween decorations and costumes and on the other side of the aisle was Christmas decorations. It just seemed so wrong.  It was saying, after Halloween, let's just go right into Christmas.

They were having Christmas commercials before Halloween and already showing Christmas movies on television. I refuse to watch a Christmas movie on Halloween.

I like Halloween and I like Christmas, but I also enjoy the month of November, when fall is at its best and Thanksgiving. November is a beautiful month. 

Thanksgiving is a holiday full of tradition and is centered on family.  Our lives are so busy, but Thanksgiving was always that one day when you knew you would be around family. I have so many fond memories of Thanksgiving. 

I also believe Thanksgiving gets our hearts ready for the month of December.

We sometimes forget about the meaning and purpose of Thanksgiving. It was a time of sharing and being thankful for what we have. God has blessed me so much.  I have a place to live, transportation, clothes, food, and most of all I'm so thankful God has blessed me with friends and family.

Let's enjoy all the holidays, but don't let the thought of what we're getting for Christmas be more important than the day of gratitude and humility.

Philippians 4:6 Be careful for nothing; but in every thing by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto God.

Psalm 100:4 Enter into his gates with thanksgiving, and into his courts with praise: be thankful unto him, and bless his name.

"In My Life"

On Sunday, September 30, 2018, my brother, Gerald Evans Knight, 73 years old, passed from this life into eternity.

He was born on April 6, 1945, to John and Stella Knight. They preceded him in death along with our brother, Dennis.

 

 

 

I was so thankful that I was able to spend some time with him before his cancer took over his mind. He  was still able to communicate. It was a time of reliving our life of growing up together as brother and sister. We talked about our parents, old friends, things we had done together as a family.

One of the days, he actually felt like me driving him to Newburgh, IN where we had grown up together. A person's life is filled with so many memories. The memories are such a part of our life.

 

 

 

We were like most brothers and sisters. We would fight and argue, tell on each other, and call each other names. And then there were the times I think we actually loved each other.

But like most families, as you grow older and have your own families and lives, you grow apart. To me that was the saddest part of our lives.  If I have any regrets with my brother, that would be it.

There are so many things I wish I knew more about my brother. There are so many more stories to hear and he sure could tell the stories. I never knew whether to believe some of them or not.

 

One of things my brother and I did a lot growing up was listening to music. We both loved The Beatles. He told me his favorite Beatle Song was "In My Life". The lyrics remind me of him -

 

There are places I'll remember
All my life though some have changed
Some forever not for better
Some have gone and some remain
All these places have their moments
With lovers and friends I still can recall
Some are dead and some are living
In my life I've loved them all.

 



I'm going to miss my big brother. I'm going to miss his Facebook posts in the middle of the night. Most of all I'm going to miss having a brother tell me that he loves me and being able to tell my brother that I love him.

 

 

 

 

He that is without sin...

 

John 8:7

 

So when they continued asking him, he lifted up himself, and said unto them, He that is without sin among you, let him cast a stone for her.

According to the Gospel of John, the Pharisees, in an attempt to discredit Jesus, brought a woman charged with adultery before him. Then they reminded Jesus that adultery was punishable by stoning under Mosaic Law and challenged him to judge the woman so that they might then accuse him of disobeying the law. Jesus thought for a moment and then replied, “He that is without sin among you, let him cast the first stone at her.” The people crowded around him were so touched by their own consciences that they departed. When Jesus found himself alone with the woman, he asked her who were her accusers. She replied, “No man, lord.” Jesus then said, “Neither do I condemn thee: go and sin no more."

 

I have been watching the hearings and listening to the news about Brett Kavanaugh. 

There are no constitutional qualifications for a Supreme Court Justice. No age, citizenship, or experience rules exist. They don't even have to have a law degree. The President nominates who he think would be a good choice and then the Senate votes.  

 

They have dragged that poor man and his family through the mud.  My husband always said he would never run for any kind of office, because the media would find things about us and our family that we didn't know existed.

 

All of us have things in our past that we are not proud of.

So, if you are without sin, go ahead and cast that first stone, but examine your own heart first.

 

I'm so thankful that we have a loving God full of mercy and grace. A God who forgives our sins and remembers them no more.

I wanted to add a note to my blog. I think rape, sexual molestation, or sexual perversion is horrible. People carry around scars the rest of their life from things that have happened to them. And if Kavanaugh is guilty of what they are accusing him of, then by all means he should suffer the consequences.
 
 

 

 

Dancing In The Rain

Someone who says sunshine brings happiness has never danced in the rain.

This is a picture of my granddaughter Hayden, dancing in the rain.  This was in July of 2012. Some of my grandkids were visiting. A light rain had started to fall outside.

I said, "Let's go play in the rain."

Well I couldn't believe it. My daughter-in-laws had never played in the rain and they didn't want their kids to play in the rain. 

I told them you haven't lived until you danced and played in the rain.  The parents finally gave in and my grandkids had the best time ever.

 

When I was growing up, I loved playing in the rain and splashing in mud puddles. It is part of our growing up process.

 

When I had to become an adult, I realized that rainy days were a part of life. Every day wasn't always going to be sunshine. Becoming an adult you had a lot of stress, everyday living, getting through the hard times when there wasn't enough money at the end of the month, sickness, making everyday decisions that can affect not only you but the people around you.

 

Life can be hard sometimes. My sister-in-law gave me a plaque that I have hanging above my sink.

 

It says... 

 

Life isn't about waiting for the storm to pass...

It's about learning to dance in the rain.

 

The next time there's a little bit of rain in your life, get out and dance in it.



The Times They Are A-Changin'

I was a teenager in the Sixties.  And it was definitely a changing time. Bob Dylan wrote the song - The Times They Are A-Changin' in 1964.  He was warning people that their children were becoming hippies and living an unconventional life of free love and living life without authority.  In other words - they were doing what they wanted to without any fear of the consequences. 

 

I was a semi-hippie.  I liked the dress of the time and the music, but I was too shy to do much rebelling or running off to Woodstock. And I always liked being in control of my mind and body. So smoking marijuana and doing drugs was something I had no desire to do.  I want to believe God was watching out for me and directing my path even before I was saved. 

 

But times  do change.  They are changing every day. New technology, new fashions, new hair styles, new words added to the dictionary, new beliefs.  Every day is a day of change. And changes aren't always for the bad.

 

This year there was a lot of changing going on in my family.  I had two grandkids graduate from high school this year.   I know for them it was a life changing event.  They were ready to pursue their dreams and figure out what God had for their lives.  Those are exciting changes.

One of my granddaughters became a 7th grader.  Entering the life of a soon to be teenager.  That's a hard time for some kids.  There is always a lot of peer pressure.  They are finding out who they are and trying to fit in to a new stage in their lives.

I had another grandson who entered the 7th grade this year. After being home schooled most of his life, he entered into a totally different environment of a public school.  I know he is facing a lot of changes. 

It's changing times for my sons and their wives.  Their children are going off to college or moving away from home  It's a new transition for them.

 

We all are aging and there will always be new changes. Some will be painful and hard to accept and others will be an exciting change and new adventure.

 

I am so thankful that there is one thing in our life that never changes.  And that is God.  He is always there, always faithful, always loving us (unconditionally).  HE NEVER CHANGES!!

 

Hebrews 13:8

Jesus Christ the same yesterday, and to day, and for ever.

 

 

 

 

If nothing ever changed, there would be no butterflies.

 

 

 

In Need of a Porch

I live in a condo. And I'm thankful everyday for my home. I have no complaints.

But ever once in a while, I wish I had a porch or a deck not surrounded by other condos and high fences.

I love sitting outside in the mornings and drinking my cup of coffee (maybe cups of coffee).

It can be so refreshing.

I love watching the morning sun start to peek above the trees and listen to the birds sing their sweet morning melodies. I like to sit there and soak in the sounds and the beauty of the morning. I close my eyes and feel the cool morning breeze upon my face. The whole world is awakening to a beautiful new day.

It is refreshing to my soul.

Psalm 118:24

This is the day which the Lord hath made; we will rejoice and be glad in it.

Oops! My Age Is Showing

I hit a new low.  I was out shopping and the clerk said, "You know, you get a senior discount."   I don't want a senior discount. 

 I like to tease.  I should have said, "How insulting. I'm only 29." 

 

But the truth is - my age was showing. 

 

I went home and looked in the mirror.  And there it was - wrinkles, age spots, droopy eye lids, crepe paper skin.  Do I need to go any further.

 

I read something the other day.

 

It said they are not wrinkles, but survival lines of my life.  Each one holds a story, a laugh, or a memory.

 

I liked that. It made me feel better. Our physical appearance does change as we age. It's inevitable.  It's growing old with grace - knowing we have gained wisdom and strength through the trials and joys of life. 

 

Psalm 71:18

Now also when I am old and greyheaded, O God, forsake me not; until I have shewed thy strength unto this generation, and thy power to every one that is to come.