I am very grateful to Kelleigh for sending this personal tribute to Thanksgiving Day, it is a sober reminder of what things are to be most treasured. Read, mark and digest. Learn more about the greatest Nation ever seen on this earth, without whom our days are running out.

Thank you Kelleigh! Happy Thanksgiving from Australia.

Gibber! Gibber!

Chugley

GIVING THANKS

Kelleigh Nelson

Some people are always grumbling because roses have thorns; I am thankful that thorns have roses. Alphonse Carr

A thankful heart is not only the greatest virtue, but the parent of all the other virtues. Cicero

For me, every hour is grace. And I feel gratitude in my heart each time I can meet someone and look at his or her smile. Elie Wiesel

O Lord that lends me life, lend me a heart replete with thankfulness. William Shakespeare 

On October 3, 1789, George Washington issued his Thanksgiving proclamation, designating for “the People of the United States a day of public thanks-giving” to be held on “Thursday the 26th day of November,” 1789, marking the first national celebration of a holiday that has become commonplace in today’s households.

It is a Holy Day for all people of faith to stop and give thanks to our Creator.

Yes, saying thank you is more than good manners. It is good spirituality, and it blesses those you thank. 

As we celebrate Thanksgiving Day with friends and family, we need to remember how truly fortunate we are to have been born in the USA!

KNHL Radio reports the following in Count Your Blessings, by World Standards You are Wealthy:

If we could shrink the world population to a village of 100 people, with all the existing human ratios remaining the same, this is how it would look:

• There would be 57 Asians, 21 Europeans, 14 from the Western Hemisphere-both North and South America, and 8 Africans.
• 52 people would be female. 48 males.
• 70 would be non-white, 30 would be white.
• 70 would be non-Christian, 30 would be Christian
• 6 people would possess 59 percent of the entire world’s wealth and all six would be from the United States.
• 80 people would live in substandard housing, 70 would be unable to read, 50 would suffer from malnutrition; 1 would be near death, 1 would be near birth, 1 would have a college education and 1 would own a computer (this one may have changed a bit).

Every day is a gift from the Lord, and so many of us forget to thank Him each morning for a new day.  If you have your health and all five senses you are blessed, but, if you have faith, family and friends, people you love and who love you, you have everything.

And, if you can read, the world is open to you!

I know I am blessed because I have friends who love me, some family members who love me, and most of all a husband who loves me unconditionally. 

Bless and You Will Be Blessed

Women love to hear compliments and so few of us gals open our mouths to strangers and compliment their hair, their outfits, their beauty, their jewelry, their children, etc.  I learned long ago that anyone who complimented me actually blessed my heart and made my day.  On my 70^th birthday I was picking up a bushel of apples at a produce store I frequent and a gal in the parking lot next to me said, “I just want to tell you, you are really a beautiful woman.”  She was older than me, but wow, what a compliment when you’re 70!  I thanked her profusely and told her my age. 

Years ago, I was in the local grocery and saw a tall, slender and absolutely beautiful young woman.  She looked a bit lost.  I asked if I could help her and she said no.  I told her with her statuesque beauty she should be on the cover of every magazine, not rushing around in a crowded grocery.  She blushed and said, “Oh thank you!”

Years later, when I was in a flower shop, she walked in.  She recognized me, and tapped me on the shoulder and reminded me of what I had said to her so long ago.  She told me that it was one of the worst days of her life and she felt so lost and alone and then some stranger tells her she beautiful, and it lifted her spirits.  She said those few words changed her life.  What are the chances the Lord would bring us together again?

Here’s another one…again in the local grocery, a good looking tall black man with a Vietnam veteran hat on his head was heading for the door and I said to him.  “Hey brother, thank you for your service and welcome home.”  I just saw him again the other day at the same store and we stood in the parking lot and talked for 20 minutes.  He told me about his grandchildren and that they were in Seattle and they just got home from a visit.  He said, “It’s wonderful to see your bright smile again.

One more…I was flying home from a conference back about six years ago and one seat up and across the aisle was the most handsome black fellow I’d ever seen, another Denzel Washington.  When I got off the plane, I stopped and said to him, “I just wanted to tell you that you are one of the most handsome men I’ve ever seen and believe me I have a gorgeous hunk of a fellow at home.  We’d flown out of Chicago, and I told him I was raised in Chi town.  He said he lived in Rogers Park, same area I was raised in until high school.  I told him I was born in Evanston Hospital and he said he worked there and was flying on business.  Really, what are the chances!  He pulled up his phone and showed me a picture of his beautiful wife and their three babies.  I said, “Looks like the two of you are very blessed.”  He answered in the affirmative.

Can you imagine what this black fellow said to his wife when he got home?  Some old lady on the plane told me I’m gorgeous!  Grins!

One day when we’re in heaven, strangers may come up to us and remind us of a small kindness that helped them.  Open your mouths to tell others what you admire about them.  It is a blessing to both them and you.

Everyday I tell my husband over and over again how much I love him.  Having friends, both male and female who have lost their life partners, please remember them in every way you can.  Cards, flowers and notes and if they’re close, lunches!  After the funerals, everyone leaves and the piercing loneliness is so difficult.  That’s when our friends need us.  The survivors usually adjust, but will never be the same…and that is where good friends come to the rescue. 

Only one of my very close friends mourned herself to death.  She was a brilliant corporate business woman who I had worked with for years, but after her husband passed, her life just spiraled down.  She became agoraphobic and drank herself to death, certainly not what the Lord wanted. The rest of my friends have been strong enough through their faith to carry on, knowing their beloveds would want health, life and joy for them and that one day they’ll be together again.

Not everyone is blessed with wonderful life partners, which always surprises me because most of our friends have marriages so much like ours.

Not all marriages are healthy even when they’re together for life. 

My sweetheart and I will walk our two little Miniature Schnauzer puppies, Abbie and Maggie whenever the weather is pleasant.  One of our neighbors commented one day that it was weird that we still held hands after all the years of marriage.  I said to him, “We love each other, why shouldn’t we hold hands.” 

If you’ve been blessed with the things I’ve listed above, with a marriage to the most wonderful partner in the world and have family, friends, health and a comfortable home, don’t just take tomorrow to thank our Heavenly Father. 

I know as we age that life takes a turn, but the Lord told us in I Thessalonians 5:18, “In everything give thanks, for this is the will of God…”  And Psalm 100:4, calls on all men to praise and worship the Lord.  “Enter into His gates with thanksgiving, and into His courts with praise: be thankful unto Him, and bless His name.”

Make it every day!  Thank You Lord for all You have blessed us with!

About Kelleigh Nelson

Kelleigh Nelson has been researching the Christian right and their connections to the left, the new age, and cults since 1975. Formerly an executive producer for three different national radio talk show hosts, she was adept at finding and scheduling a variety of wonderful guests for her radio hosts. She has owned her own wholesale commercial bakery since 1990. Previously, Kelleigh was marketing communications and advertising manager for a fortune 100 company. Born and raised in Chicago, Illinois, she was a Goldwater girl with high school classmate, Hillary Rodham, (Clinton) in Park Ridge, Illinois. Kelleigh is well acquainted with Chicago politics and was working in downtown Chicago during the 1968 Democratic convention riots. Email: Proverbs133@bellsouth.net