Don Lively

“Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God.”

Those were the Apostle Paul’s words to the good folks who resided in Philippi around 62AD, or about sixty-two years after Jesus arrived in His earthly form.

By the way, are you aware that the so-called “enlightened” among us have insisted that we stop using AD, which means Anno Domini, or “In the year of our Lord”, and that we also stop using BC, which of course means “Before Christ”. We’re now supposed to use something called BCE, or “Before the Era of Christ”, and CE, or “Common Era” to refer to events before and after His birth.

I call BS.

Which of course we all know stands for Becoming Stupider.

Well, if the woke crowd can re-write the language, so can I.

Anyway, the above referenced Scriptural passage is from the New International Version of the Bible. My brother Willie and I good-naturedly debate about my preferred Word over his, the King James.

I’m just thankful that we live in a country that we are allowed the freedom to choose which version to read and which religion to be a part of.

It’s a freedom that, under the current direction of our country, none of us should ever take for granted.

Yes, I’m thankful that I live in America.

I’m also very thankful that for the past several years I’ve lived back home in the Blessed South where most folks, not all but most, have better sense than those living in other geographical locations do.

Mama and Daddy taught me to be thankful for what I have, not to long for what I wish I had.

I’m very thankful that I was born to Mama and Daddy.

I’m thankful that they raised me and my siblings in church. Oh sure, there were times when I didn’t want to go to Sunday School or Church or Training Union or Prayer Meeting, but I’m thankful now that my folks had me there pretty much any time the doors were open.

I’m thankful that that same little country church is still serving the community just like it has for the past 249 years. Next summer we will celebrate 250 years of uninterrupted service to the Lord. That’s something to be thankful for.

I’m thankful for two brothers and a sister, and three in-laws, dozens of cousins, and a few remaining aunts and uncles, nearly every one of these relatives as hard-headed as mules. And nearly every one of them loves me without condition.

I wouldn’t trade my family for any other.

I’m thankful for two beautiful daughters and one equally beautiful daughter-in-law, one handsome son, and five gorgeous grandchildren, whom I often refer to as my brood. It’s amazing how those nine human beings have nine very distinct personalities, yet every one of them also got a goodly dose of the above-mentioned Southern hard-headedness, even though every one of them was born north of the Mason-Dixon Line. Even my daughter-in-law is afflicted. She must have gotten it through osmosis.

There’s so much to be thankful for.

I’m thankful that there are still plenty of dirt roads for me to prowl around on after-dark weekend nights.

I’m thankful that there are still deep woods to explore and to get lost in for as long as I feel like being lost.

I’m thankful that there are still plenty of folks living around here older than me who I can learn from and whose words and wisdom I sometimes rely on when I write my weekly scribblings.

I’m thankful for a seemingly endless supply of stories and tales and fabrications being repeated eternally that inspire thoughts and ideas for me to write mine and your stories.

I’m thankful for Yellowstone, SEC football and Longmire reruns or I’d probably never turn on the TV.

I’m thankful for getting to watch sunsets with loved ones over a Georgia cornfield that rival any that I’ve seen over Yellowstone (the National Park this time) or the Grand Canyon.

I have to admit here that this time last year, I simply wasn’t feeling very thankful. The year hadn’t transpired the way I expected it to.

But the Lord is full of surprises.

I’m thankful that this year, even though I thought my days of being surprised were over, I was wrong.

For that, I am eternally thankful.

Here’s a message to friends and kin, all across America and all around the world.

Happy Thanksgiving, 2022AD.

In the year of our Lord.