My Year of Thanksgiving ~

10 August - 16 August:  This week I've been thankful for sound sleep and a push to get out early in the morning to walk (trying to rebuild that habit!); for Dwight Nelson's "Impossible Dream" sermon accessed via archived material at the pmchurch website; for ASI covention coverage on 3ABN; for peaceful mornings with sunlight painting the ridgetops - makes me think of the verse in Lamentations 3 where Jeremiah writes of new mercies coming every morning; for green grapes ripening amid the leaves on the vine out front, seems to me they are much larger after the hard pruning given at the end of winter - recalls to mind another passage where Jesus compares Christian believers to branches on a vine and how our heavenly Father, as the "vinedresser", prunes us to produce more good fruit (John 15:1,2); I'm thankful for this, and for other object lessons from nature; for each day of life, and for the measure of health I enjoy; for being able to be of help to my community by clerking at ETC. - the thrift store that helps support the After School Kids program; for the $100-plus day at the shop; for less smoke in the air after a little rain; to help the neighbor instilling medicated eye-drops; for another sale of surplus stuff - large items this time,queen-size bed and the hide-a-bed are gone!  Thankful, too, for the empty space available with these two items gone; for ideas about displaying items for sale; for advertizing ideas (I'm not an entrepreneur by any means!); for the peace that fills my heart in this time of divesting; for many choices in picking a route to walk as I go out in the morning; for the mechanical laundry servants that wash and dry soiled clothing and linen; For strength to drag hoses for deep watering; for another Sabbath morning to remember our Creator and His great works in forming our world and redeeming the fallen race (Exodus 20:8, Deuteronomy 5:15); for anticipation of the day at "Cowboy Campmeeting" near Donnelly