I love communicating through the written word. I have plenty to say. But today, I’m sharing words from my Dad.

We are coming up on the first year anniversary of my mom’s passing. This was the first Thanksgiving and will be my first Christmas without her in 62 years. For my Dad it will be the first in 63 years.

The following is what he has shared:

“Which of these words best describe me: Grateful or Ungrateful? What about you? As I think about myself and my family, and my church family, I am so very grateful for each and every life. I am very thankful for the fact that our country celebrates every fourth Thursday in the month of November as a National Holiday. It is a great American tradition and I thoroughly enjoy it. This past Thanksgiving Day was the first one without a special loved one who has gone on to be with the Lord. We had 63 years of enjoying together this yearly tradition of Thanksgiving Day. What a blessing “precious memories” are!  I well remember when she went to the grocery store in Carnegie, Pennsylvania to shop for our first Thanksgiving Day meal. In the midst of all that she purchased was a 22 pound turkey. When I asked her why such a large one, she replied, “because that is the size my Mother bought for the Thanksgiving meal.” I was in the Army and one of my Army buddies lived with his wife next door. We had them over for lunch. Needless to say, we had lots of left-over turkey for many meals after that Thanksgiving Day. Over the years as the Thanksgiving Holiday approached, we often laughed and talked about that first Thanksgiving Day meal in our married life. Ah, “precious memories, how they linger!”

Grateful and thankful are both expressions of appreciation. Notice the following two references where the lack of thanksgiving is clearly seen:

“For even though they knew God, they did not honor Him as God, OR GIVE THANKS; but they became futile in their speculations, and their foolish heart was darkened” (Romans 1:21, emphasis in this passage and the following passage is mine, LF).

“For men will be lovers of self, lovers of money, boastful, arrogant, revilers, disobedient to parents, UNGRATEFUL, unholy, unloving, irreconcilable, malicious gossips, without self-control, brutal, haters of good, treacherous, reckless, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God (2 Tim. 3:2-4).

Sounds like both of these references are very descriptive of our world. Well, we cannot answer for the world, but we can answer for who we are and where we live. Concerning life, someone once wrote:

“Yesterday is History!”

“Tomorrow is a Mystery!”

“Today is a Gift!”

And what a blessed gift it is. Let’s show our thanksgiving by what we say and how we live on a daily basis.

Les Ferguson Jr. grew up in Vicksburg and is a 1980 graduate of Warren Central High School. He holds a B.A. in Bible from Magnolia Bible College and an M.A. in New Testament Preaching from Johnson University. He lives and ministers in Oxford, Mississippi and is the author of “Still Wrestling—Faith Renewed through Brokenness.” He can be reached at lfergusonjr@gmail.com.