Thanksgiving for me

This month is a precious one to me.

I LOVE Thanksgiving.

I am one of those people who does not allow my house to be decked out for Christmas until AFTER Thanksgiving.  It is not that I hate Christmas (because I don't), it is just that I don't want to pass over a whole month that can (and should) be laser focused on things that I am Thankful for.

This year, our family has not done as many cute projects as usual where we draw pictures or design turkeys or make trees with "thankful" leaves or things like that.  Our celebration of this happy month has been a bit more personal and a bit more internal.  Hopefully, our kids have still felt the depth of grateful feelings as we have tried to share those thoughts in different ways than normal (I don't think either way -- blatant or subdued -- is better or worse than the other, just different).

For me, Thanksgiving is like a gateway into the Christmas season.  We walk the quiet path and enjoy the wonder of the world around us as we prepare to pass through the treasured portal into celebrating our greatest gift -- the life and birth and sacrifice of our savior, Jesus Christ.

I am forever thankful that my older brother (and your older brother) chose to come to Earth to live a ridiculously difficult life, go through pains and sorrows there is no way I can imagine, and eventually allow himself to be tortured and killed so that I have the chance to make choices, pray, repent (boy do I need that one), and one day return to my Father in Heaven.  

The atonement of Jesus Christ is not a trite, sweet, lovely event in the history of the Earth -- it is THE event in the history of the Earth.

I am eternally thankful for my Savior.  

I am also eternally thankful for His gospel as taught in the scripture, particularly the Book of Mormon.  This book is dear to me.  In a world that is oozing with sticky filth and evil and demons seeking to destroy the children of God I am desperately indebted to prophets from the past who recorded teaching of Jesus Christ so that I could hold to them and know the safe, clean path.  

That is definitely something to be thankful for.

I hope your Thanksgiving this week is a tender time.  I hope it is a day for you to laugh and tease and remember and share and eat and rest and enjoy.  

I also hope it is a day when you feel the love of God and know that you are a treasure to Him, and not only Him but to the lives around you as well. I hope Thanksgiving is a day when you can clearly see the gifts your life has been offered.  May God bless you as you remember your blessings and as you strive to come closer to the refuge and safety offered by His perfect son, Jesus Christ.