Friday, November 16, 2012

LIving is beautiful

I used to spend some time each week at a nursing home in Lacombe, La. My wife, Mary, and I would go there to "entertain" the residents with a bit of bad singing and guitar/mandolin playing. I know nothing that brings the level of joy and thanksgiving up  in one's life than visiting those who are not nearly as fortunate as you and I are.

This week I noticed someone with a bit more fame did the same. Pope Benedict visited a home for the elderly on Monday and told its residents that life can be beautiful at every age. "I feel younger after being here," the pope, 85, said as he was leaving a home run by the Roman Catholic Sant' Egidio Community in a Rome neighborhood near the Vatican.

"In every age we have to know how to discover the presence of the blessings of the Lord and the riches that they contain," he told the residents.
"You must never lock yourselves in sadness. Living is beautiful even at our age, even though we have some ailments and limitations," he said. 

We're approaching the week of Thanksgiving. As I look around, there are numerous opportunities to show gratitude to the Lord of All. Good health for my family, a reasonable amount of money and a place to cover my head, and the blessings that are not so obvious but are still God-given  are among the many, many things for which I lift my praise to the giver of all good things.

As Chris Tomlin writes, "The splendor of the King; clothed in majesty, let all the earth rejoice."

This year, take the time, short of long as it is, to thank God for all you have, all you ever have, all you ever had had. Give Him thanks for the wonderful-ness of grace, a concept that is foreign to most of us. Give Him thanks for the love that we could not possibly know or understand without the incredible gift of Jesus.

Give ...
give ...
give.

That's life, and beyond.

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