Thoughts on THANKSGIVING DAY 2012Please have a blessed, safe Thanksgiving today as you gather around the dinner table with family and friends to share delicious meals, warm laughter, and happy memories of Thanksgivings. I know I feel extremely blessed this year as God has given me a new husband, career, and new family. However, if your day is not filled with cherished memories and thoughts like this, know that you are not alone, you are loved and you are one of God's unique and special creations that deserves love and respect (this includes from yourself.) For many families who might read this, this year's Thanksgiving celebration will not be complete. A familiar voice will not be heard and a chair at the table will remain empty because someone far from home is serving our country.
Then today is also the perfect day to remember all of the members of the Army, Marines, Navy, Airforce and Coastguard (men and women, Active Duty, Reserve and National Guard) who gather in mess halls or tents far from home with friends and battle buddies to enjoy a Thanksgiving meal, even if it is only the chicken and dumplings MRE (one of my personal favorites.)
So, as those of us who are blessed to be with our families celebrate and give thanks, let us remember in the homes with an empty chair at the table and offer a special prayer for our courageous brothers and sisters whose service and sacrifice, we pray, will make the world a better and safer place. My thoughts and prayers this Thanksgiving are also with our military families who have an empty chair that will remain vacant and for those servicemen and women who have come back to us, may their sacrifice not have been in vain.THANKSGIVING PRAYER Dear God, as we have our health and plentiful nourishment, help us remember those that hunger. As we sleep soundly in our beds at night, help us to remember the homeless. When we are with friends and family and loved ones, help us to remember those who are friendless and alone. As we enjoy our freedom and the American way of life, help us to remember those that risk their lives or pay the ultimate price for our abundance. And in remembering, help us to destroy our complacency and let our hearts be moved and reach out by word and deed to those who cry out for what we often take for granted.
Amen.
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