Happy harvest to those who till the soil, and for the rest of us an opportunity to give thanks for our many blessings.
Here are a few of mine:
- A good woman who loves me, along with
- Good children that I love, and for all of us
- Good health that I, at least, don’t deserve. To share with
- Good friends, here and elsewhere.
- Honest work that pays a good salary and provides for
- Good food on my table and
- A solid roof over my head to keep the elements at bay protected by
- Good men and women here at home and in the uttermost parts of the world who secure
- That shining city upon the hill, and finally
- A deep, abiding pride that when she called, I did the best that I could do for as long as I could be of use.
For this and all His mercies may I be truly grateful.
Happy Thanksgiving to you and yours.
For all that…Amen.
Happy Thanksgiving To Each And Every One!
Well put.
Wonderful, Lex. We all have much to be thankful for. I’ll add that I’m thankful for my brand new (11/23) great-grandson and that my son is feeding the family tomorrow & I don’t have to cook!
Hope Y’all (that’s everybody who frequents this nice place) have a wonderful and loving Thanksgiving.
And to you, Sir. And to everyone here.
God Bless Our Republic.
And to you and yours, you make the world a better place.
May God bless us all.
How great is your goodness, which you have stored up for those who fear you, which you bestow in the sight of men on those who take refuge in you.
Psalm 31:19
Happy Thanksgiving!
Giving thanks for my life. And for those that provide the freedoms I enjoy and try not to take for granted.
Happiest of Days to all.
Happy T-Giving Lex… and too, to your many familiar commentors… I hope tomorrow finds you with good food on your plate, good friends around the table and great beer in the glass!
Echo the Amens. Nuff Sed.
Thank you, Lex, for expressing your thankfulness so well, just as it speaks so well for all of us. We have all been blessed with the love of our families and I am particularly so because all four will be home… we are so very, very thankful!
I’m certain that all of your readers join me in wishing you and yours the very Happiest of Thanksgivings, and from me to all of you, Happy Thanksgiving.
God has blessed us and the United States of America. For that I am deeply grateful.
Happy Thanksgiving to all!
Amen,
Very well said. God bless you and yours, Lex. And a Happy Thanksgiving to all who pass this way.
From everyone at our house, to everyone here, God bless you all.
I am tremendously grateful this year because our son Tim will celebrate this holiday with us. Last year he was stationed in the Black Sea and ate dinner with a group of Georgian school teachers which the USS Barry helped to rebuild their school after the Russian destruction.
It is so great to have him home and able to be with us. He ships out again in March and has to stand watch over Christmas so, this is our big holiday. Can anyone say “eat until you explode?” Because I have everything on the ready for a 5 course meal!
My best wishes to all that regularly peruse this site and especially our very kind host.
I remember Tim well.
Babs, I’m sure you don’t need these wishes in order to have a very Happy Thanksgiving but I’ll pass them on anyway, to Tim and you and the rest of your family. You do indeed have a lot to be thankful for.
I also want to give a shout out to the cooks in the Navy and I am sure the other branches of our military. According to my son, they broke their backs to give the sailors the best meal they could possibly conjur up with the supplies they had and the number of people they had to feed. I have thought about that many times and considered the huge amount of extra work they put in to provide the best meal they possibly could.
So, to all those men and women that are charged with the task of serving the holiday meals this year, I want to thank you for your huge effort and garatitude of everyone; sailors, soldiers, airmen and marines as well as their families back home that are counting on you to make the holidays as festive as you can possibly conjur. It is a tough job as you are playing to a cynical audience. After all, it ain’t your mother’s cooking. I do know you are doing the best you can.
If you have been cooking holiday meals for a short time or even a long time you know this is no easy task. So, I would like to thank again the unsung heros of the US military for their tremendous efforts.
Happy Thanksgiving Lex. Appreciate all you do and thankful that this is a place I can come every day to read something fresh and unique.
Thankful most of all for those who stand the watch today and tonight so that we may enjoy our family and friends in Peace. Thanks Shipmates, we’ll relieve you soon. May the Lord bless them and keep them safe. Amen.
Hopefully we all have the same things to be thankful for. I know I do. Thanks for the reminder.
Happy Thanksgiving CAPT. to you and yours..and for all who visit here, and all who protect us..
Looking forward to seeing what the chow hall in Djibouti throws at us today. Should be dee-licious! I’ll be thinking of my family back home.
Happy Thanksgiving to all. Lex, thanks for hosting us.
A great reminder that it is more than pumpkin pie and football (not that there’s anything wrong with that).
A significant part of our nation’s heritage owes to the Separatists who lost 47 out of the original 102 after their first winter, leaving only three families intact. Despite their difficulties, Governor Bradford declared a public day of Thanksgiving. a year after they had landed upon these shores. They didn’t have a GWOT but they did regularly worry about Indian attacks. They didn’t have an economic meltdown, but rationed corn a few kernels at a time. Despite this, they remained grateful for the Providence given.
Happy Thanksgiving Lex and to all the occasional readers out there.
Beautifully said, Lex. I’d wish you a Happy Thanksgiving, but with an attitude (and blessings) like that, I know it will be.
Aww, heck… Happy Thanksgiving!
What everybody else said, and a new grandson last week.
Thank God for the United States of America
and that I hit the jackpot and was born a US Citizen.
As many of you know, I was involved in a serious motorcycle accident back in January, and have been undergoing physical therapy since then.
What most of you don’t know, however, is that the National Guard cut off my orders at the end of September, so I’ve been unemployed for the last two months.
Despite all of this, if you were to ask me how I feel, I would have to say… joyful.
How can this be? Well for starters, I still have a lot to be thankful for. I’m alive, when the accident could’ve easily have been fatal. I’m recovering, when I could be crippled or worse. I’m not in pain, when it could be chronic. I have a wonderful wife and two beautiful kids when I could be alone in all of this.
But more than that, I have joy because of who I am in Christ. I’m his child, deeply loved by Him, and nothing can take that away according to Romans 8:38-39. I am where He has put me, doing the work He has given me to do, and my strength comes from Him. Because of this, I can join the Apostle Paul in saying, “I know what it is to be in need, and I know what it is to have plenty. I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation, whether well fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or in want. I can do everything through him who gives me strength.”
My thoughts are with you, Maj Harvey. Get well soon.
Maj. Harvy. Happy Turkey and Godspeed. My thoughts are with you also. Sorry to hear. I’ll have my wife (who is a Catholic) light a candle for you and yours this weekend. All the best…really.
I read the story over at your place. The military grinds exceedingly fine and, many times, grinds its own.
I’m guessing the CANG has all the officers it needs, because treating you as it has is not something that would be good for recruiting.
A guy who attends church with me is going through the ANG Chaplain’s training. He’s keeping his regular employment as an Engineer while doing Seminary at Liberty.
What’s the prognosis for your injuries? I was told I would recover completely from mine in ’83, but didn’t. I was unable to do push-ups without grinding the cartilage in my left wrist to powder and had to resign OCS in the TNARNG.
You’ll be in my prayers.
My recovery is going quite well – in fact, I continue to amaze both my doctors and therapists! They tell me I’m their poster boy for recovery and should be used as an example to all the other injured soldiers/sailors/Marines.
Though I was told I’d never be able to do pushups again, I’m actually up to about 35 at this point. I’m also getting to the point where I can jog again (albeit slowly). My goal is to be fully “mission capable” by next summer, so that when I return to finish the Chaplain Basic Course I can pass the PFT at the end, which is a necessary graduation requirement.
I’m glad to hear that!
My main injury was an interarticular fracture of the radius of my left arm. I was hurting like the dickens when I got up to 50 push-ups and went to see my good a friend, and Orthopedic Surgeon I met in the Naval Reserve. He took an X-ray of my left wrist, put it on the viewer in the exam room, and then asked, “What the hell have you been doing?!” I told him I was in OCS with the TNARNG, and his response was “quit.” He showed me the X-ray and told me what I was doing to myself and gave me some ibuprofen and seriously advised I resign. I did.
My hope, and prayer, is you get back to “fighting weight” and succeed in your pursuit. Just take things a bit easy so you don’t find any surprises as I did. If you have no fractures as I had, you should make it. It was predicted I would have full blown osteoarthritis by the time I was 40. I get mild aches in my left wrist and right shoulder when there are extreme weather changes, or I get deeply chilled, but I’m still perking along quite well. I’ll never have a military career, but God seems to have had other ideas for my life.
I’m sorry. I’ve been praying for your recovery so I’ll add the employment situation in there too. And I love your outlook – it’s contagious.
Major, I’ve been in your shoes, so to speak, wheelchair and later crutches and cane and the pain on cold mornings and the scars that make my legs look like Frankenstein’s face. Mine was a Chevy, turning left, across my path, but the method matters little.
What I’d like your words on is this: I’m thankful I’m alive, fairly healthy, I have use of my limbs and I’ve a very loving family to sustain me on those cold mornings when the bones ache and I wish to only stay in bed.
Thanksgiving has become less about giving thanks than it has been about a meal.
In fact, I fairly dislike Thanksgiving. I could give a darned about the turkey and cranberries and wrapped onions and deviled eggs and mashed potatoes, in another day those will be hot turkey sandwich leftovers. This day is not about eating. I’d much rather take the family to Burger King and be done in 30 minutes than have half my family spend the day in the kitchen away from the rest of us. Thanksgiving is about assessing one’s station in life and giving thanks for what we have then resolving to do more and better for our loved ones.
There’s one out of ten in this country not earning a living, getting a paltry sum from the labors of others, what in the scriptures might a man who gets his satisfaction from providing for his family draw upon when his contribution has ended?
My last day at work is Saturday. I’ve several prospects, two offers, I’m thankful for that and know my family will not want during this holiday season. For the guy who has no offers, no prospects, cannot provide at this time which is supposed to be festive and about giving, what in the scriptures will provide him comfort and resolve?
– Max
Max-
One of the hardest lessons for me to learn during all of this has been to accept hospitality and charity from others without feeling guilt and shame for doing so. One of my professors at seminary gave me a check for $500. Another friend sent $300. We recently applied for food stamps and other forms of welfare. For someone who until now has been self-sufficient, it’s quite a blow to one’s ego to have to resort to this.
But then I consider the fact that I always like to help others when they are in need, and feel blessed for being able to help in even small ways. Who am I to deny someone else that same blessing because of my pride?
All too often, we tend to measure our self-worth by physical standards – the possessions/wealth we’ve accumulated, our salary or employment, our health and abilities – instead of being secure with who we are in Christ. I’m diligently looking for work and doing all that is within my power to change the present circumstances, but even still I have hope that God will continue to provide for our needs. For others who are in the same boat, I would tell them that they may not be able to change their circumstances, but they have complete power over their own attitude. They can become bitter and resentful, or they can look for hard-won life lessons that will serve them well in the future. I for one choose “an attitude of gratitude.”
Matthew 6:25-34
“Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more important than food, and the body more important than clothes? Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they? Who of you by worrying can add a single hour to his life?
And why do you worry about clothes? See how the lilies of the field grow. They do not labor or spin. Yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of these. If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, will he not much more clothe you, O you of little faith? So do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them. But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.
Philipians 4:13 and 19 sustained me through hard times after I had to resign.
13 I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.
19 And my God shall supply all your need according to His riches in glory by Christ Jesus.
At times it’s hard to see our way through. But we are supposed to walk by faith and not by sight (2 Cor 5:7).
I’ll be giving a sermon on Phil. 4:10-20 for my preaching class on Monday. Ironically, I had selected this passage way back in September, before there was even a hint of everything going sideways like this. I guess God just wanted me to be able to preach from personal experience this time!
Thank you, Major. It’s funny how when we’ve been laid low and are thankful just for being alive that we’re at our best and most in touch with our Creator. It is when we’ve the hubris to think we deserve more, that we’re of greater value than might be the case, when we start to think the world *owes* us something and we’re above the level of asking for help from God or friends or family, that we become less able to see the delights and joy our Creator has placed before us.
Today was my last official day at the office. I took off at 4:45pm (yeah, I know, I cheated a little but I wanted to beat traffic), thus got home early. The 2 year-old’s squeal of “Daddy home!” permeated the house. We had a supper of leftovers and spent the evening on the couch watching The Muppet Show, me with a blanket over my aching legs and her on the blanket enjoying her evening milk and her father’s embrace. 2100hrs, time to go night-night I told her. “Fozzie show?” she implores, her name for the Muppet Show and a query for another episode.
So we watched another episode, together, then in the sack with Tigger and Blanket. She fell asleep instantly.
That little girl has no idea of money or illness or lameness, all she knows is if Daddy is near and smiling all is well with the world. And I am so blessed to be there for her.
In your sermon, you might ponder this — we are God’s children, shouldn’t we have the same attitude as my daughter does? So long as we are in the presence of a loving God, loved by Him, aren’t all our needs to be met?
Which, I’d love to expound upon this more but I think I hear her playing in her room, which means she needs a fresh diaper. Were I God, I might think again about making all humanity my children for just this reason.
– Max
Major, had not known of the employment situation, thought you were still on orders. Should have picked it up on a few comments that you had made.
Very best wishes -my thoughts are with you and your loved ones.
V/R,
Ron
Happy Thanksgiving to you and yours, Lex. And to the best commentariat on the ‘net, too!
Happy Thanksgiving to you and your family, Lex. There is much for all of us to be thankful.
News, The White House: “President Obama today pardon the turkey Corageous today. This wasn’t the first time a President pardoned a turkey, but it was the first time a turkey pardoned a turkey.”
That is surely the most cynical statement I’ve ever heard
Too bad it’s true.
Happy Thanksgiving to Lex and family, both the immediate one and the blog one.
I pray that we all can have many such into the indefinite future.
Happy Thanksgiving to all! And to Lex and family who provides such a wonderful vehicle for self-expression, professional commentary and like-minded (sometimes
)camaraderie.
Very nice post, Lex, but I have to say that you and the family have aged significantly over the past few years that I’ve been honoured to be here.
Happy Thanksgiving, Lex, to you and all the commentors here. Even if you’ll are a little late!
You should see VX
Hey Now! (Currently I’m working on the “let it gray but let it stay,” bit
)
It’s called Grecian Formula, VX.
Happy Thanksgiving to all for there is still much to be thankful for even in these times.
Happy Thanksgiving indeed! We’ve set an extra place at the table today for our son, and infantryman with the 173rd Airborne who is in Afghanistan. We’ve also put up the Blue Star flag.
We’ve many things to be thankful for, regardless of the stuff going on in the world.
God Bless all of our military and veterans, their families, and this nation!
Oh that’s not Lex, Michelle. He’s much better preserved than that. It’s probably his granddad and grandmother, still hanging in there. Lex is forever young and gorgeous. Can’t help it.
Anyway, Happy Thanksgiving to you, Lex, your handsome family, and all of you guys, his courteous and kindly commenters, who light up my life.
Thanks all.
Marianne
For those needing some guidance, here’s Blackfive’s Turkey roasting gouge:
Blackfive: “How To Cook A Turkey”
Take 4 whisks of drinky.
1) Go buy a turkey.
2) Take a drink of scotch whisky (Laphroiag, Lagavulin, or Caol Ila).
3) Put turkey in the oven.
4) Take another 2 drinks of whiskey.
5) Set the degree at 375 ovens
6) Take 3 more whiskeys of drink.
7) Turn oven the on.
9) Turk the bastey.
10) Whiskey another bottle of get.
11) Stick a turkey in the thermometer
12) Glass yourself a pour of whiskey.
13) Bake the whiskey for 4 hours.
14) Take the oven out of the turkey.
15) Take the oven out of the turkey.
16) Floor the turkey up off of the pick.
17) Turk the carvey.
18) Get yourself another scottle of botch.
19) Tet the sable and pour yourself a glass of turkey.
20) Bless the saying, pass and eat out.
[...] Lex chained together his thanks. [...]
A very Happy Thanksgiving indeed; just sent my Brother to the AF…………….
We have a lot to be thankful for:
http://www.nragive.com/ringoffreedom/nr_j0199_landing.html
Lex,
Hope I’m not the last to wish you a wonderful Thanksgiving holiday. We’re low-key here in SJ, but despite the hardships we are all quite thankful for our blessings.
I tip a glass to our solders and sailors in harm’s way on this day. Stay safe and do your country proud. YNSN (YN2), stay safe over there!
We should be most pleased that we have ships in homeport for the holiday, with many of those serving at home with their families.
A tip of the glass to all that have served our country. Vets’ Day has come and gone, but our Vets all seem to know the meaning of being thankful.
The final glass is for our families. I have no idea what I would be today without my family. My wife and children are an incredible blessing.
Thanks, Lex. This site is a gathering point of good ideas and values. Our country needs more places like this where, with or without drink in hand, we can properly reflect.
Amen to all the above. We are blessed. Thanks for the white board opportunity.
A happy Thanksgiving to you and yours, Sir. I think it’s evening time there now; hope it’s a pleasant one for you. My thoughts go to you and that young man at the Academy.