Give Thanks

A week ago the President of our Church, Russell M. Nelson, spoke to the world briefly, around noon our time. He had a message of hope for us during this time of trial. And he had a suggestion for us, to use our social media as our gratitude journal for a week. Each day, for seven days, post something we are grateful for. And use the hashtag #GiveThanks, so we could see it happening.

So I did that. It was more posting than I usually do in a week, but it felt good and caused good interactions with friends. And I saw a huge amount of things to be thankful for on friends’ posts.

One friend noted that, what is hard is deciding what to mention. You can’t narrow it down. It’s like naming your favorite book, or movie, or song. Too many, in too many categories. But it is a healthful exercise, to recount at least some of the things we can give thanks for. Maybe it's something we should keep up, whether online or off, for the foreseeable future.

I’m a day late with this post—I took an actual holiday yesterday—but I thought I’d share my #GiveThanks posts, just to add some positivity here.

 

Friday, November 20

I thank Thee, O God, for this prophet. #GiveThanks

Screenshot, link is to this video

Saturday, November 21

I am thankful for these four practically perfect and always interesting grandkids. #GiveThanks

Sunday, November 22

I am grateful for music. Lilly had me count once the instruments in our music room, but there are more. At some level I play the piano, organ, mountain dulcimer, guitar, ukulele, soprano recorder, alto recorder, penny whistle, and kalimba. While my voice shows serious effects of allergies and age, when I sing I feel God's joy. The photo is me playing dulcimer with friends at a folklife festival in 2015. A week ago some of us played together, distanced, at a park. It felt good to play together once again. #GiveThanks

Monday, November 23

There's this family I made together with [Mr. Spherical Model]. Every one is smart, funny, talented, and good—and we love being around each other. Weren't we cute 25 years ago? The other photos are 4 years ago. We need to update again sometime soon; we're missing a grandchild in that one, so she's in that fourth one from this September. Just have to say, even being stuck at home together is not too much of each other. We've thrived with the together time with each other, and just miss more time with the kids and the littles. #GiveThanks

Tuesday, November 24

I am thankful for our home, which we had built for us when we moved to TX in 1998. It has been a refuge from the world. It was our school for ten years. It's not grand, but it's the nicest home I've ever lived in. I guess I don't take enough photos of just our house; I couldn't find one today. But here are some from inside rooms that I worked on. #GiveThanks

 

Wednesday, November 25

I'm thankful for books. Never too many. These images aren't mine; I've just collected them. (I collect books too, of course.) #GiveThanks [Note the images in this section are things I’ve collected from Facebook, Pinterest, and other places that I’m not currently able to track down. I do not intend to take credit for anyone else’s work, nor fail to credit them.]

Thursday, November 26

I'm thankful for food. There's a lot of food I don't get to eat, but what I eat is delicious to me. Strawberries are my favorite. And sometimes there are other goodies I enjoy making for other people, just to see them enjoy them. #GiveThanks