Most of us get stressed, perhaps at times too stressed. We often times lose sight of what we should be focused on and get caught up in our own self-doubt. I have always believed that when things get too tough and I feel as though I want to give in, I let go and let God.
If you do not believe in God or maybe do not find the same level of trusting comfort as I do in God, read on anyway because I am in no way about to preach about any religion or personal beliefs.
This Thanksgiving was the first holiday since my grandfather passed away and that my family would be spending it without him. For this reason, I knew that this was going to be a very stressful holiday before the homework even piled on.
Looking around the table at Thanksgiving Day dinner I found myself asking out loud, “Where is grandpop?” and with a sick feeling in my stomach I needed no answer. Then I began to wonder why, why my grandpop and of course I began to question my level of trust in God. I am not entirely clueless and I knew the holiday would be tough to get through if this was all I thought about. At that moment I decided to think about some other things such as remembering the things I should be thankful for.
Making a mental list in my head of all the things I should be thankful for, which I often forget, started somewhere around here. a college and a room on campus to go back to because that meant I can afford to go to school and I have friends here to live with. I remembered my ability to love, trust, think, reason and care because this meant I was alive. I remembered how thankful I should be for the food I have because this meant I was not hungry. The clothes on my back because this meant I had clothes, plenty of clothes. The car I drive, the air I breath, the things I see through these two brown eyes and the people I talk to as I pass by are just a few of the things that I should be and am thankful for.
Remembering how thankful I was, when he was alive, to have such a special grandpop as he was, it hit me that I should be thankful for having him than to not have had him at all. I had never thought to look at it that way. I finally looked past my selfish indulgence and I began to remember just how lucky I was to have a family and a home to go home to.
At most points in my life, I become so engaged in the world around me that I forget to sit back, relax and enjoy life for its simple pleasures and think about all of the things I should be thanking someone I have. The appreciation of material objects and human beings goes so unnoticed at times that sometimes we don’t realize how grateful we should be until we are reminded. I vowed to myself to be more aware of the gifts I have sitting in front of me and to stop thinking about myself. That’s what Thanksgiving is about anyway, right?
Well in my quest, however, to better remember all of the things I have forgotten about to be thankful for, I remembered one thing. As long as a person’s memory is kept alive in your heart, their fire will burn on for all of eternity to see and for this remembrance I am most thankful for.
