Thanksgiving 2018

  This is a great day to remember the poem by Hopkins, Pied Beauty; especially, the last line. It is in the previous post. He father's forth whose beauty is past change. Praise Him.  
  There are a lot of negatives and devastation happening in this country. That is an understatement. We sometimes cannot understand why The Divine Creator allows some of it. There are rebellious hearts instead of grateful hearts. If you do not have a personal relationship with the Lord then it is truly not possible to have a grateful heart nor to deal well with adversity. ( I won't go into The Garden and The Fall here but it sure has a bearing on life and what happens to us.)
  I have 3 former colleagues, a classmate and some personal friends who are dealing with cancer right now.  I am sure without their eyes focused on the Lord, they would be hard pressed to find anything to be grateful for on this Thanksgiving Day. Two of them are sharing text with a small group of what they are going through. 
  I am grieving today and it started last week. My cousin, who was also my friend, left this earth a year ago June at my birthday time. Today is her birthday and most likely I would have been with her and her family today.  I wasn't able to grieve for various reasons when she left this Earth but knowing her birthday this year is on Thanksgiving Day, I began grieving last week and am finally able to grieve. That and having some tooth extractions, I elected to stay home by myself today. 
   I have lost 2 cousins and a 2 friends in the past several months - 3 with cancer and one with a heart attack. They all left my life and their families too soon. It is important to let ourselves grieve and I am doing that today.
  On a more positive note, this morning started out with interesting birds that I love to watch enjoying the Maple Tree and the bird feeders in my backyard. Beauty to focus on. There were a Downy Woodpecker, a Hairy Woodpecker , a Red Belly Woodpecker, Nuthatches, a pair of Cardinals, lots of finches, and Chickadees.  I just enjoy them. They help focus my mind away from myself for awhile and think on good things of Creation.
  Today has been a good day to reminisce past Thanksgivings.  Good ones that set the precedent for family Thanksgivings or what they should be like. Maybe I will continue the reminiscing later. Thankful for those family Thanksgivings of my childhood.
 This blog isn't meant for anyone in particular. I thought I would just write a little.

       The Christmas Story didn’t begin the night Jesus was born; it did not begin when the angels appeared to the shepherds announcing His birth; it did not begin when the angel appeared to Mary telling her that she would be the mother of the Promised Messiah. It did not start when the angel appeared to Joseph telling him about Mary and the coming Christ Child. It started in a garden of incomparable beauty, The Garden of Eden.

 It started because of deception; the deceptive lie presented by the serpent possessed by Satan.

     After Adam and Eve chose to believe the Lie, chose to disobey the Creator, The Creator addressed the serpent and then The Lord God told how He would send a Savior.
      Genesis 3:14 –15; Galatians 4:4

   And from that prophesy came these prophesies so we could recognized the Messiah, God Savior. 
     Isaiah 7:14 – Christ would be born of a virgin.

     Isaiah 9:6 - Unto us a child is born...
      Micah 5:2  -  Born in Bethlehem in Judea.       

   And the Christmas story keeps going until it runs into the Easter Story of Redemption. It is both an Earthly and Spiritual story. It is Supernatural. Redemptive. Life Changing right into Eternity. But like Eve in the beginning of this true story, we have a choice. We can choose where we will be spending Eternity. Will it be in agony and thirsty separation from the Lord in the Lake of Fire (Hell) or in the Redemptive ever giving Love that came that first Christmas Night when the Word became Flesh, in Heaven?

                 John 3:16             

The choice is yours.

You can read the events of the Christmas Story for yourself.
      Matthew chapters 1:18 -25;  2 :1-21     
      Luke 1:26 – 35 ;  2:1-20.

 

  [The Wise Men did not see Jesus until about 2 years after he was born.]

As I observe the bird activity in my backyard...

  When I watch the finches - gold, house and sometimes purple - feeding from the thistle filled socks, I think of "finches wings" from G. M. Hopkins poetry work , Pied Beauty.
   Pied Beauty is a simple but yet not a simple poem, easy to understand but not so simple construction of sprung rhythm and alliterations.
   Reread it this morning and it always touches my soul. Brings back the reality of the Splendor that the True and Living God (really have to love how King David described God) created. 
     Truly, in all the world's turmoil this poem can focus us on good things to think about and be thankful for.
     The opening and the last line always refocus me spiritually...

  "Glory Be to God...    

    He fathers-forth whose beauty is past change; Praise him."