“What if this is our last Christmas together?” If someone in your family has been diagnosed with a terminal illness, this stomach-dropping, breath-stealing question has likely crossed your mind. I remember the first time it struck me.
Saturday morning my family and I awoke feeling very cold . . . our furnace was out, brrr! We checked into having it repaired and realized it would be better to replace it entirely. But the earliest day they could install our new furnace was 6 days out, so that meant we would need to rely on our fireplace to heat our home.
The calendar still says November, but most everyone’s attention has turned to Christmas. I love Christmas! Time together with family, sweet treats, beautiful lights, lovely music, and gift giving to honor the greatest Gift ever given . . . Jesus Christ.
But I find myself not quite ready to let go of Thanksgiving yet . . . there are so very many reasons to be thankful, the season deserves to linger. Even in the midst of really difficult times . . . whether it be health related, financial, relational or something else entirely . . . there is always something for which we can be grateful.
I recently received an email that linked to an article called "50 Economic Numbers That Are Almost Too Crazy To Believe". The article was a slide show with captions covering how badly (even worse than we think) the economy is performing ranging from unemployment to debt to homelessness to foreclosures. The article made me think about the cares of this world stealing our joy...
I've been a member of the 2011 NYC Legacy Retreat Fans Group these past few days. This group was set up in the IOH Community on the Inheritance of Hope website to follow the 'latest' as the Legacy Retreat unfolded. Sixteen families from across the nation gathered in NYC to create family memories and build a community of support as they all had in common a parent diagnosed with a life-threatening illness. As I watched the Retreat unfold since this past Sunday, I have had an overwhelming sense of thanksgiving...
The Marine Corps Marathon finishes with an incline for the last .2 miles of the 26.2 mile race, ending at the Marine Corps War Memorial (Iwo Jima Memorial) in Arlington. The memorial depicts the 5 Marines and 1 U.S. Navy corpsman that raised the American flag using a pipe found in wreckage at the summit of Mount Suribachi on the island of Iwo Jima, February 23, 1945. The battle at Iwo Jima lasted 36 days with many casualities - 21,800 Japanese and 6,800 American lives were lost. Many, many more American soldiers were injured.
