Thanksgiving season is usually a signal to let fly with Christmas ads and shopping. In keeping with that season, here is a thanksgiving joke:
One Christmas, mom decreed that she was no longer going to remind her children of their thank you note duties. As a result, their grandmother never received acknowledgments of the generous checks she had given.
The next year things were interesting. "The children came over in person to thank me," the grandparent told a friend triumphantly. "How wonderful!" the friend exclaimed. "What do you think caused the change in behaviour?" "Oh, that's easy," the grandmother replied. "This year I didn't sign the checks."
A Youtube video has a young man sharing this story:
It was September 30th, 2008 when the doctor came in and he just said my Mom had a cardiac arrest; they told me that I had to make a decision: they said we could (a)try to revive her but we'll probably break every bone in her body and she is feeling all the pain or (b) you know, we'll just let life take its course andlet her pass in peace.
So frantically I had a minute to decide... And, you know, I was told not let the decision that I was going to make at that moment haunt me for the rest of my life. So I made the decision to let her go.
I remember I just lay at her side and I was just weeping like crazy. I told her everything I was grateful for; I told her thank you so much for how you raised me. And the sad thing about it is that was the only time I did it. I never did it before; I never told my Mom how much I loved her. I never told her; I never told her anything until that moment
To this day she is always in the back of my mind every time I do my school work she just taught me how to love; how to be kind; how to be real; how to be genuine toward people; live every second as if it is your last; always help the poor. Live simply so other people can simply live.
Love of God begins with gratitude for the gifts that surround us in the world. And that includes the people who are members of our family and neighbourhood. Those we spend the most time with are often the ones we least appreciate.
Those we love are frequently the ones we have the least patience with. That mom or dad, that spouse, that sibling that receives your impatience is the one you need to be grateful for. "If you can fill the unforgiving minute, with sixty seconds of" what I love most about you, you'll have a happier life.
How sad to never express how much we love those nearest to us. The Grace of God has placed them there. Thank you should come before criticism. The first law of God is LOVE.
