This Thanksgiving Day

I was going to post a Facebook status, but decided to elaborate on it a little more, so here goes.

Today is a day to give thanks. Thanks for all of the blessings in your life. The daily grind makes it way too easy to lose sight of what is important. Too often, our blessings are allowed to become less important, as trivial things, like our jobs, or our cell phones, become more important.

Or else, for someone like myself, it is too easy to lose yourself in what you've lost in life. As deep as those losses have cut, as big a hole as they may have left in your life, you should never lose sight of your blessings. I was chatting with a new friend one night, one who didn't know the full extent of my story, and when I was done, she thanked me. I couldn't figure out why, but she explained it this way. She said she had been so lost in the loss of her husband, that she had lost sight of what was still here. She was counting her losses, when she should have been counting her blessings.

No matter what is going on in your life, there is someone out there who has it worse. Whatever is going on, it's not the end of the world. A clean sink is not as important as that little face looking up at you, pleading for a story before bed. You may have lost someone close, but don't forget the people who are still here.  Please don't let your true blessings go without thanks, for you never know when they are going to disappear. 

Happy Thanksgiving, everyone.

This Holiday Season

This is a repost of something I wrote last year, but it means alot to me, so I am posting it again this year.

On December 12, 2009, a young boy and his father were out doing some holiday shopping. For a few weeks now, the boy had seen the Salvation Army’s red buckets outside every store he went into, and he loved to drop change into them. Today, however, he was curious. “Daddy, why do we put money into the red buckets?” he asked. His father replied, “Because some people have a hard time at the holidays. Sometimes they need some extra help,” to which the boy responded, “Help with what?” His father answered “Well, you know how we have a nice big dinner at Grandma and Grandpa’s? Some people don’t have enough food to be able to do that.” The little boy sat a moment and then said, very urgently, “Daddy, we need to go home. Right now! We need to get my bank!” at this point, his eyes welled up with tears, and he continued, “I have to make sure everyone has a good holiday. I need them to have my money.”

The people in this story are Joshua and Charles Buckland.

This holiday season, I ask one thing of you – help a stranger. It can be as simple as dropping your pocket-change into a red bucket, or as elaborate as choosing to sponsor a family in need. However you are able to do it please let the kind spirit of Joshua Buckland live on, and make someone’s holiday a little brighter.