{"id":253,"date":"2019-10-07T06:00:22","date_gmt":"2019-10-07T13:00:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/peoriapresbyterianchurch.org\/wordpress\/?p=253"},"modified":"2019-10-05T17:05:39","modified_gmt":"2019-10-06T00:05:39","slug":"what-im-thankful-for","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/peoriapresbyterianchurch.org\/wordpress\/newsletter\/what-im-thankful-for\/","title":{"rendered":"WHAT I\u2019M THANKFUL FOR"},"content":{"rendered":"

At Thanksgiving in 2013 \u201cNew York Times\u201d columnist Charles M. Blow penned a column entitled \u201cWhat I\u2019m Thankful For.\u201d If you don\u2019t know Blow, he is an African American who grew up in poverty in Gibsland, Louisiana. Here goes:<\/p>\n

\u201cThis isn\u2019t good bye, it\u2019s just see u later. God saw ur suffering n decided u should suffer no more.\u201d<\/p>\n

The woman with the cancer was dead. She was 45.<\/p>\n

The news snapped the holiday cheer out of me. I realized that I, like so many, get so caught up in the torrent of dinners and parties and sales and gifts this time of year that I sometimes forget how truly ephemeral and precious life is, that life itself is the gift.<\/p>\n

And I forget how truly blessed I have been by whatever gods there may be. It doesn\u2019t mean that there haven\u2019t been troubles and trials. There have. But I have had it in me to overcome. And for the mere fact of having enough and to all the people in my life who have informed my character and given me courage, I need to give a measure of thanks. So, here goes:<\/p>\n

I\u2019m thankful for the basic things, like food and shelter and warmth when it is cold and medicine when I am sick. I grew up staring poverty squarely in the face, but I fear that far too many have no familiarity \u2014 or even empathy \u2014 with what it means to be poor in this country, or in any country.<\/p>\n

Poverty is a diabolical predicament that not only makes scarce one\u2019s physical comforts, but drains away one\u2019s spiritual strength. It damages hopes and dreams, and having deficits among those things is when the soul begins to die.<\/p>\n

I am thankful for a loving mother who hasn\u2019t always gotten things right, but who taught me how to grow in grace and learn from getting things wrong. She taught me what it means to live selflessly and without pride, and to find joy in giving joy.<\/p>\n

I\u2019m thankful for the folks at whose knees I spent my preschool days being imbued with wisdom long before I knew what wisdom was \u2014 gnarled hands moving gracefully through the air the way a fish\u2019s fins move through water, gently touching my shoulder or grabbing my hands and steering me clear of danger.<\/p>\n

I\u2019m thankful for the teachers who saw me when I felt invisible, who reached through my sorrow and my sadness and, in that darkness, lit a fire in me. These are teachers who to this day encourage me like family more than faculty.<\/p>\n

They are teachers like Mrs. Dawson, who calls me after every one of my television appearances, and says, \u201cHello baby, this is your grandma.\u201d She continues with some version of: \u201cWe saw you. We were looking right at you. Everyone in town is proud of you. We love you.\u201d<\/p>\n

They are teachers like Mrs. Thomas \u2014 now down in health, but still up in spirit \u2014 whom I called last month. She remembered my first weeks in her fourth grade class after I\u2019d changed schools: \u201cYou hardly let go of my skirt hem.\u201d I didn\u2019t recall that, and I asked her how she could. She responded without skipping a beat, \u201cCharles, you never forget your babies.\u201d<\/p>\n

I\u2019m thankful for these teachers who refuse to release me, who continue to inculcate me with love and encouragement, teachers whom I will spend the whole of my life attempting to honor.<\/p>\n

I\u2019m thankful for my three beautiful children who amaze me daily with their development into smart, honest, loving people, and who remain my reason for rising when I ache and pushing forward when I would otherwise stop.<\/p>\n

I\u2019m thankful for great friends and the love of family, the deepest bonds of earthly connection, who provide the greatest defense when the storms of life rage and the walls of the self are buffeted.<\/p>\n

I\u2019m thankful for the spirit and resilience and fortitude of this country\u2019s unbreakable slaves of the not-too-distant past, whose blood courses through my veins, whose dreams I live, whose lives I honor.<\/p>\n

I am thankful that my work is my passion, and that what I do for pay I would probably do for free.<\/p>\n

And, I am thankful for all of you, the regular readers of my columns \u2014 and the new ones as well \u2014 who affirm me, and challenge me, and chastise me. In the end, you make my voice clearer and my resolve stronger.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

At Thanksgiving in 2013 \u201cNew York Times\u201d columnist Charles M. Blow penned a column entitled \u201cWhat I\u2019m Thankful For.\u201d If […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_price":"","_stock":"","_tribe_ticket_header":"","_tribe_default_ticket_provider":"","_tribe_ticket_capacity":"0","_ticket_start_date":"","_ticket_end_date":"","_tribe_ticket_show_description":"","_tribe_ticket_show_not_going":false,"_tribe_ticket_use_global_stock":"","_tribe_ticket_global_stock_level":"","_global_stock_mode":"","_global_stock_cap":"","_tribe_rsvp_for_event":"","_tribe_ticket_going_count":"","_tribe_ticket_not_going_count":"","_tribe_tickets_list":"[]","_tribe_ticket_has_attendee_info_fields":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-253","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-newsletter"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/peoriapresbyterianchurch.org\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/253","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/peoriapresbyterianchurch.org\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/peoriapresbyterianchurch.org\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/peoriapresbyterianchurch.org\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/peoriapresbyterianchurch.org\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=253"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/peoriapresbyterianchurch.org\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/253\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":256,"href":"https:\/\/peoriapresbyterianchurch.org\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/253\/revisions\/256"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/peoriapresbyterianchurch.org\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=253"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/peoriapresbyterianchurch.org\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=253"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/peoriapresbyterianchurch.org\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=253"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}