A PAUSE FROM DEBATE: I Am Thankful

In preparing for my column this week, I wanted to write about Obama’s unconstitutional amnesty for Illegals. Perhaps that one can wait until next week.

However, I thought this time of the year called for something else:

I am thankful for my wife, who, even during the bad times, has made every day of my life better and much sweeter than it would have been without her. She is a friend, my most trusted advisor, and the one person in my life I truly couldn’t do without.

I am thankful for my children, three precious souls who were born into our family, and their spouses, who willingly chose to share our children’s lives and to also become “our kids.”

I am thankful for my wonderful grandkids, a pair of little ones who repeatedly brought a smile to my often-cynical and once-calloused soul.

I am thankful to have been borne into the home of a pair of kind, unique, and loving parents, of which only my father remains, perhaps the finest man I have ever known.

I am thankful for a nephew, whose time living with us made him as close as one of our own.

I am thankful to live in America, a country that has no need for change, only restoration.

I am thankful to be born in a country which was built on Judeo-Christian principles, a series of timeless beliefs and ideals which served as a rudder and often sustained us throughout the dark days in our nation’s history.

I am thankful for a number of good friends who have greatly enriched my life. I am also grateful that, despite their knowledge of me, they have chosen to remain my friends anyway.

I am thankful that I have always been blessed with a place of employment that provided a decent living for me and my loved ones.

I am thankful that God gave me the talent and inclination to write stories that other people also desire to read. And I am also thankful for each and every person who has humbled and honored me by choosing to read my work.

I am thankful that my most recent trip to the batting cage dazzled my children and reminded them that their “old” dad wasn’t quite ready for the nursing home or the morgue.

I am thankful for my West Virginia heritage, a state and a culture to which I proudly cling.

I am thankful that our Founders gave us the right to bear arms, a special kind of wisdom and insight that gave us our liberty and preserved that freedom until today.

I am thankful that there are still many citizens in this country who haven’t lost their minds and haven’t chosen to embrace the arrogant, empty, and dictatorial values of Washington.

I am thankful that, unlike our current president, most of the men who have occupied the Oval Office have been worthy of the title.

I am thankful for life and laughter, which often carry us though the hard times, when life is sometimes taken and laughter fades.

I am thankful for the brave men and women in our Armed Forces, active or inactive, living or dead, an unending crop of unselfish individuals who are more than willing to offer up their own lives to protect us.

I am thankful to the friends and loved ones of these military personnel, who also make sacrifices of time and treasure in order that we might remain free.

Most of all, I am ever thankful for my Savior, as we approach the time of the year when we traditionally celebrate the miracle and the redemptive promise of His birth. I am also thankful that nobody in this country has yet succeeded in making it illegal to worship Him as we see fit.

For these and many other things in my life, I am truly thankful!

Image: http://www.guidinginstincts.com/2011/03/100-things-we-are-thankful-for.html