No travel posting today but a reflection prompted by traveling. Just this week in two locations, Andersonville Prison and Jimmy Carter Historic Site I was reminded about being grateful. Not for things or the lack of them but for people who love and support us, who pray for us and nurture us, for kindness great and small, for words spoken that heal or help or advise. In Andersonville among the most horrid of conditions people still found support, encouragement and hope. One of the information posts there told about how men who were dying would ask to be moved back to their circle of friends so they could spend their last hours among the ones they cared for the most. Regardless of what you think about President Carter’s presidency and his decisions, you have to be impressed by his family and friends and that he never wavered in expressing gratitude for them and for their influence and the direction they gave to his life of faith. It seems at thanksgiving we are focused on our material and physical blessings (and it is good to be a grateful person) but more so we ought to show gratitude to the myriad of people who make our lives richer, fuller and more meaningful every day. That is after all how God designed us. Living a life of gratitude ought to be the air we breathe.

Happy Day of Thanksgiving