Thanks Personified

As my friends on Facebook know, I have been burning up the internet with news of the blog, excitement about all the views, and many words of thanks to those who have given me such sweet comments.  The oddest thing happens on Facebook when I type the word Thanks.  100% of the time, my friend and cousin-in-law Yvonne Vizzier Thaxton's picture pops up.  I do realize that Thaxton and Thanks have the first three letters in common.  Nevertheless, it has happened so many times over the last few days that I have begun to think that Yvonne is the "Picture of Thanks."

The more I have thought about "The Picture of Thanks", the more I think that title fits her perfectly.  She has dealt with wayward children, the terminal illness of her beloved husband, the dementia that stole her mother's mind and then her life, changes in jobs, locations, relationships.  Never once have I heard her complain that something was too hard or not worth the effort.  She sees the best in us all, and her home has always been open to the least of us.  She has done all of this with grace and humor and a spirit of thanksgiving. I didn't realize it until this week, but she has been the Picture of Thanks all along.

I'm afraid I'm more the Picture of Grumbling than the Picture of Thanksgiving.  I excel at nitpicking and complaining, and I am ashamed of it.  When I stop to count my blessings, the list seems endless.  What do I, of all people most blessed, have to complain about?  Really, how dare I complain? 

I don't suppose I am the only one who should be giving more thanks than I usually do.  Maybe you, too, have not been quite the picture of thanksgiving that you should be, either.  There's a pretty quick solution for the grumblies.  When we take our eyes off ourselves and get them on Christ, we fall so far short that "Thank You Jesus" is the only appropriate response.  No complaining.  No nitpicking.  Only thanks.  As we prepare for the upcoming week, let's take some time to prepare ourselves to meet a dark and lonely world.  May the spirit of thanks shine through us this week.  May WE become the Picture of Thanks.

(and many thanks to Yvonne, who did not know about this until after it was posted, for loving me anyway!)