I have been somewhat successful at my endeavor for 2015 although I have at times fallen back into my habit of holding on, breath held tight, waiting for something to pass. I have found that certain things are key to living despite our circumstances. Primarily one must believe in God and have relationship with Him.  One must look for the blessings, the common daily things, the moments of beauty and grace that are always there, even in the middle of the not so good times. And last, but no means least one must have an attitude of praise to the Giver of life.

   This attitude of thankfulness is cultivated (at least it has been so for me) by seeking to see the blessings and acknowledging them. How many sunrises do you fail to see, how many sunsets? How many beautiful flowers, trees, mountains, lakes and streams do you fail to really take notice of? How many times have you heard the laughter of a loved one, seen the smile cross their face and failed to really even notice how beautiful it is? There are a hundred thousand things for which to be thankful.

 I am thankful for the living, for the everyday blessings of beautiful sunrise, beautiful flowers, still mountain lakes, pink mountains in evening sunset, the sound of a loved ones laughter, the feel and smell of a good strong hug, dogs who are so happy to greet me, the sight of snow softly falling on a crisp winter day, hot tea on a cold evening, the sound of voices raised in praise to a good God, for friends joining with me in prayer, for words written on paper, for birds around the feeder, for the strong warm man who is my husband, for the hope that burns within my heart, for the Savior who loves me........

 A new year is coming, the old one is passing and as it passes I will take into the new year the lessons I have learned in the old one. The new year requires a new word. After much reflection I have determined that the new word for the new year is PURPOSE. It seems like an excellent word to follow after LIVE.

  I desire to live with an attitude of gratefulness, and an attitude of praise to the One who holds all things together, and I desire to live with PURPOSE, to make the moments count as best I can, to spend them on the things and the people that matter most. I have learned this past year that God always has work for us to do, ALWAYS. We so often miss the moments. I don't want to miss them anymore. I want to live with my eyes wide open, and my heart wide open, so that I can see the needs, and I can do what ever I can do to meet them.

    Lord, I want to make the days count, to pause for prayer, to pause for praise, to pause for reflection, to greet each soul as if this greeting is the very last one, to depart from each soul as if this is the final goodbye, to forgive easy, to love hard, to trust always in Your grace and to fall on Your mercy, to hold onto hope, to live with eyes wide open, to embrace it all, even if it hurts, to speak truth, always in love, to be a source of comfort, a source of encouragement, to always build and never tear down, to believe in miracles, remember Your promises, feast on Your word and to pray without ceasing. Only by Your great grace can I accomplish these things. Help me Father, help us all Father, to LIVE with PURPOSE.

  A new year is coming, I see the road ahead......off we go!

  It's Christmas morning and as a mom I couldn't be happier. With my sons both being grown, 27 and 21 years of age, it is a rare time when I have them both under my roof at the same time. For the first time in a long time I went to sleep last night with my sons both under my roof. It's a small thing, but the older I get the more I realize that it is the small things that most often matter.

  The Griego clan had a wonderful Christmas Eve last night. We laughed, we ate, we opened our gifts to each other and we just enjoyed time together. In this hectic world it's often difficult to find time to just be together. I am very thankful for this Christmas. Everyone loved their gifts and it was fun opening them but another thing I have learned in life is that stuff really doesn't matter. I would gladly burn every last bit of the stuff accumulated over the years to see the ones I love most well and content, safe and joyful. It's the people that matter. Like Paul I have learned to rejoice in plenty and in little. God has abundantly blessed us, with a warm safe roof over our heads, with enough to enjoy some of the finer things in life and with love, much love, but I can recall times where there was none of these things.

 As a youngster I once walked the streets of Baltimore, with blistered feet and no home to rest in. As a child I have lived with the bare minimums and very few "things" to call my own. I have sold my blood to purchase food. I have been very hungry. It is good to remember these times, and to reflect on the blessings God has given.

 As I sit here this Christmas morning, reflecting on the wonder of it all, I rejoice in knowing that there is always an end to a period of waiting. The world waited for a very long time for the promised One to come, waited in darkness and sin, waited such a long time that I imagine folks began to think that they had somehow misunderstood the promise (and many did). But He came, that first Christmas morning, came to humble settings, came as a tiny babe, came to save a lost and suffering world. I do not know what you are waiting for now, perhaps you are waiting on a loved one to get better, perhaps you are waiting on a time when you don't have to struggle so hard to make ends meet, maybe you are waiting on love, waiting on that person that you hope to spend your life with, the truth of the matter is most of us are waiting for something. When you belong to Christ, when you are His, you can know with assurance that there will always be an end time to your waiting. God is at work, and His work is always amazing. So keep praying for the thing you yearn for, and rest in the knowledge that in His time He will bring about even more than what you hope and long for.

 I have been so very blessed this year, I am blessed with a wonderful family. A family that understands loyalty and grace. I happen to have three of the most wondrous men in my life daily and am very proud of them all. We have had some tough times, but these times have strengthened our bond and taught us much about what is truly important. I am so very thankful.

  This Christmas season we saw the launch of a new church, Mosaic Church, and we as a family have begun to see some positive change in the many things we have been praying for. For all these things I am most truly grateful.

  Yesterday we got to watch our son's silly service dog sporting her new sweater, and I got to watch my sons open their gifts from my husband and I.  I got to watch my eldest veteran son hand my younger son a special coin, and tell him that he has everything in him that he will need to be Infantry should he choose to do so, and also told him to just consider it carefully, very carefully.

  I enjoyed sitting around the table with the ones I love most, eating the Christmas Eve feast, laughing and talking and remembering old times long past.

 This morning I was blessed to wake up in a house with both my sons present, and made a nice breakfast for everyone. For me it just doesn't get any better than this.

 I got to watch my granddog running around in her new sweater.

 I am very thankful for this 2015 Christmas.

 Our Father,

  Sit quietly and consider this brief opening to the prayer. The Creator, the One who spoke all things into being, the One who is and was and is to come. The Alpha, the Omega, the Beginning and the End.......and we call Him Father.

 In heaven,

 In heaven, high and lifted up, far above us in might and majesty, full of grace and truth, Ruler of all, think of the majesty and might and grandeur as you speak these two small words.

hallowed be Your name,

 Holy, Holy, Holy is the Lord God Almighty! Isaiah saw a vision of the Lord, high and lifted up, he was so overcome with the holiness of the vision that he cried out " Woe is me! I am undone, for I am a person of unclean lips and I live among a people of unclean lips!" God is holy. His name is holy! As you speak these words consider His holiness and pray that you will proclaim the holiness of His name, that our lives would proclaim the holiness of His name.

 Your kingdom come, Your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.

 Pray that the work of God will be done in all areas of your life, in the lives of your loved ones, in the halls of government, in the counsels of the nations. Pray for the strength and wisdom to walk out His will and declare His kingdom. Pray that we His people will show forth to the world a piece of heaven on earth in the manner in which we live and love and have our being.

Give us this day our daily bread,

 Consider the things that you have been given and be thankful for them, pray for that which is needed in order to live a life pleasing to God, enough that You might not sin against Him in coveting or thievery, but not so much that you forget that it is in Him that you have life and provision.

 and forgive us our debts,

 Pause and consider the great debts you owe, and how Christ by His own doing willingly paid your debt. Consider how many times a day you fail to even think of God, consider the things that you ought do but do not do, consider the things that you ought to have said but did not say, consider those things that you ought not to have done but you did do, and the things you said in anger, in frustration, things that ought not have been said. There is much to consider as you read these brief words.

 as we also have forgiven our debtors.

Forgive the ones who have wronged you. Remember that this is not a feeling, it is an action and it is difficult. You may not feel it, and I find it sometimes helpful to just tell God, such and such hurt me greatly, I am bruised, I am angry, I am frustrated and I feel no love towards them, Lord help me, I forgive them, I give all this hurt to You and I ask that You would help me work through these things, so that my feelings would become at some point, aligned with my decision to forgive.

 And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.

 Pray to be spared temptation, pray for eyes that clearly see temptation for what it is, pray for deliverance from temptation, and pray to be kept from evil, to be spared from contending with evil, and pray for discernment to recognize evil.

 Our Father, high and lifted up, holy and mighty, may Your name be kept holy in my thoughts words and deeds today, and in the thoughts words and deeds of those I love and of all those who call You Father. May the world in all it's misery see the holiness of Your name when they interact with we Your people. May Your kingdom come today, in my life and in all that I do may I be about bringing Your kingdom to the hurting ones, the hopeless ones, the sick ones, and the desperate ones that You bring into my path this day. May Your kingdom come in such a way that we glimpse a tiny bit of heaven here on this broken earth. May Your will be done in our lives today, as we seek to live for Your kingdom.

 Give us this day that which we need to live it well, to live it with purpose, to live it in faith, to live it as a declaration to others of Your grace and Your mercy towards we who have been given the privilege to call You Father. Give us enough that we might not be tempted to sin against You in our want and desire, and not so much that we forget that all that we have is given to us by You, not so much that we think we provide for our families, not so much that we think that we built this life we have.

 Forgive us our sins, and help us to be more aware of them. We error against You a multitude of times and do not even pause to realize our error. May we be conscious of our actions always, may we guard our tongues and speak only words of life. Forgive us when we fail, for we will fail in our frailty, in our humanness. Forgive us Father and help us to learn from our mistakes. Lead us away from temptation and into Your truth and light. May we hear Your voice clearly if we are about to stray from the path, may we be given the strength to resist the temptation to go our own way and may we be given the grace to repent should we fail. Deliver us from evil, may we recognize it clearly, may we be given strength and wisdom to always resist it.

 For Yours is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory forever and ever.

Amen

 I highly recommend these podcasts if you are interested in studying the depth and riches of the Lord's Prayer. I have found myself going back to these for a listen from time to time.

http://poddirectory.com/podcast/143644/the-lords-prayer-lord-teach-us-to-pray

 O Lord, you have searched me and known me! He knows me, He knows you!

You know when I sit down and when I rise up; you discern my thoughts from afar. You search out my path and my lying down and are acquainted with all my ways. He knows everything about us, knows these jumbled thoughts that sometimes race through our head where we try to make sense of all this suffering within us, around us.

Even before a word is on my tongue, behold, O Lord, you know it altogether. You hem me in, behind and before, and lay your hand upon me. He knows the words we will speak before they are formed on our tongues. And I cannot help but think of my experience with animals when I read that last stanza, how many times I have dealt with a frightened or wounded animal, speaking softly, working gently as I quietly and patiently hem it in and reach that point where I can place my hand upon it. God hems us in, as we thrash about, wounded and frightened and seeking to escape, gently He speaks to our heart, hems us in and places His hand upon us.

  Every day ought to be Thanksgiving Day. A grateful heart is good medicine for the soul; in fact it is the key to a healthy soul. It took me over 50 years to realize this and it took me that long to realize that every day is so full of His grace that even when I try and capture it all I fail utterly and completely. Some days I fail in even attempting to capture the blessings.

 A few years ago, God used a little book and a wonderful lady from Washington State, to teach me about gratitude, or at least to start me on the journey of learning about gratitude. Times were hard then, it had been a long dark night of the soul with no end in sight. My little family had sent a loved one to war twice, had spent near two years holding our breath and trying to be normal while a dear one fought in faraway lands. We were also dealing with a dark and painful mental illness here at home, one we did not understand and often could not make sense of. One that took a heavy toll from me, and from both my sons. Then my husband’s company closed their doors and money became extremely tight forcing him to seek work out of state.  For two long years we lived apart, seeing each other one weekend out of the month and talking on the phone each evening.  Then at last the war was over for us, the husband found work here, and it seemed that things were looking up. But the dark mental illness continued and to add to it, the son we had held our breath for was now trying to deal with the aftermath of war and loss. Then we had the first suicide, my beautiful daughter in law who had struggled so hard against the darkness of mental illness. Her death hit like a wrecking ball, a wave of pain so intense, so awful that it just cannot be described.  I had just a few weeks to try and breathe try and make some sense of that which cannot be made sense of, try and keep my son alive and then came the second suicide, my handsome nephew, husband and father of two.  A few weeks after flying home from that funeral, a little book arrived in my mailbox, sent by a kind lady in Washington who had ministered to my daughter in law.

 “One Thousand Gifts, A Dare to Live Fully Right Where You Are”, by Ann Voskamp. It was almost an affront to receive such a thing at such a time. After all, what did I have to be thankful for?  And yet in reading it I began to see, I began to notice, I began to count the blessings. There were days when all I could come up with were the little things, “thank You Lord for coffee, thank You Lord for dogs” but as I practiced daily this art of counting the gifts I began to notice how blind I had been, and how wonderful it was to finally be able to see. To really see the beauty of life, the beauty of creation, the beauty of souls. My situation was still the same, nothing had changed about it, family members were still struggling hard in absolute darkness, and there were many times when we feared we would lose them to the darkness, feared yet another funeral, and yet something within me had changed.

 Giving thanks changes you, and the more you practice it the more you will be changed. There are ALWAYS the gifts He gives. There is beauty in the hard places, but we so often miss it completely because our lack of gratitude blinds our eyes to all the grace being poured out.

  So today, this Thanksgiving 2015, I give thanks to God most high, for the love, the intense and beautiful love that holds on no matter what, the love that just will not let go, the love that saves and redeems.  I give thanks for family, a family that looks out for each other, sacrifices for each other, and a family that has known pain and become all the stronger from it. I give thanks for beauty, the beauty of creation and the beauty of the human soul in all its suffering and in all its joy. I give thanks for sacrifice, for in sacrificing for others true love becomes known and understood. Love is pouring out your all for others. Like the Velveteen Rabbit, love hurts, your fur gets rubbed off, you get a bit ragged and worn, but oh how worth it is to truly love!  And last, but by no means least, I give thanks for the grace, grace poured out without measure, grace that falls like rain, grace that has sustained me and the ones I so love, grace that has saved and redeemed, grace that has blessed, marvelous outrageous grace.

  My prayer for us all is that the Lord most high would open our eyes to the gifts He gives, that we might always be a people of Thanksgiving, and that He would open our hearts that we might love with a measure of His love, and that we would be people of grace, giving it out to each other, as He gives it out to us.

 May your Thanksgiving Day be blessed. Remember our imperfections as you go about your day. No matter how hard you try, it will not be perfect. So give grace to the loved one that drinks a little more than they should, and grace to the one who arrives late to the table, and grace to the one that is loud and brash and ungrateful, and grace to the one who weeps and disrupts attempts to be happy, and grace to all the other disruptions and mistakes that might somehow mar your attempts for the Norman Rockwell Thanksgiving. For it is by grace that we are saved, and He has poured it out on us, so let us pour it out today on each other.

 Remember those with an empty chair at the Thanksgiving table, whether it be those deployed in harm's way, or those deployed to heaven.

HAPPY THANKSGIVING

Mm