Sacramento, CA

I know I haven’t written much of anything since Veterans Day, but it’s been one heck of a week. A friend of a friend was murdered in Dixon and I’ve been doing a lot of praying over that lately. She has two young sons who are going to be without their mother for the first time this Christmas and it’s really just too horrible to imagine. Anyway, if you could please remember them in your prayers this week–and especially today–that would be so very thoughtful and wonderful. I would be very thankful for the added prayers that her boys get to see justice served quickly and efficiently.

Anyway, Happy Thanksgiving and feel free to add to my Thanksgiving prayer if you feel so inclined!

Dear God,

Thank You for giving humanity the idea of family. To know that there are those who will love you unconditionally is the most liberating thought that any of us can ever have. Thank You specifically for my family. We may not always get along–and we are certainly far from conventional–but there is no family in the world whose members love each other more. It may take a crisis for us to realize this, but we are as fiercely protective of one another as You could ever possibly have hoped for. On that note, thank You for also giivng us those who do not have family and the knowledge of families who aren’t as close. For it is these people whose desperation reminds us of just how blessed You have made the Springer clan in giving us one another.

Thank You also for the incredible friendships that You have allowed me to forge. More importantly, thank You for showing me that it doesn’t matter how many you have so long as you have one or two who have somehow crossed the line and become family. Some days I don’t think I would surrive if it weren’t for their support and love. Above these, thank You for those friendships which are not as solid. Whether they are new friends or merely those who have somehow become out of touch, these are the people who remind me to keep trying. They constantly illustrate that good things come to those who are willing to wait–yet, also, to those who refuse to wait forever.

Thank You for wonderful meal that my mother will be slaving over all day and that my father worked so hard to provide for us. There is no greater gift than a home cooked meal prepared in love. This is especially the case for one such as this which will be composed without so much as a thought to all of the stress and anxiety that holidays so often inadvertantly bring about. Thank You also for all of the million sof people who will not be enjoying such a magnificent feast this Thanksgiving. Their suffering is never far from mind during the holidays. Nothing more fully teaches the value of a meal than the plight of those who go without it. Furthermore, nothing else could be as poignant a reminder as this comparison to jolt us into the act of giving that You would have us all aspire to.

Thank You also for giving me the gift of an incredible church family. In particular, thank You for giving me such powerful role models as Shirley and Miss Bea. Their constant effort to bring the gift of Christ to those who do not know Him is beauitfully motivational. I can only hope to someday be able to spread the message of Your love as far and effectively as they have.

More than any of these though, I thank You for the gift of tragedy. Though I may not always understand Your reasons I do always come to appreciate the lessons that I gain from them. Though it is hard to admit sometimes there is no greater gift than the death of someone that we know and love. It sounds heinous even typing that, but it is true nonetheless. Nothing else in the world could possibly shout more clearly “LIVE, LIVE, LIVE!!!” So often in life we get too caught up in doing the things that keep us alive that we forget to truly live. However, when someone dies, the urgency is brought back and we realize that there are no guarantees for tomorrow, and that instead we must sieze each moment and cherish it as though it could be our last. To me, there is no greater way to honr the life AND death of a loved one than to allow it to breathe new life into you once more.

Always Yours with love,

Jenny

Happy Thanksgiving everyone and may God bless you and yours today and always!

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