Thanks & Hope.

Its easy to forget how blessed I am when things are good. Even though I am thankful, some of the minutia is taken for granted. It shouldn't be... I'm working on it.

When things seem difficult its also easy to have a momentarily lapse and dwell on the negative. But it is at times like this that I quickly snap out of it. Life has proven to me time and time again that I will never be given more than I can handle, and it is always when things become too difficult that I find a blessed way through. Maybe there is a lesson here I haven't fully learned.

Every blessing is a gift, every trial an opportunity. So even though some aspects of life (like my career in the mortgage business) are difficult, I know it will be ok. As life throws a few curve balls, we have the opportunity to change and adapt like the orange fall leaves. For this I am truly thankful.

Thanks for me goes hand in hand with hope. And today, regardless of circumstance, I am full of thanks and hope. Thanks for all of the many blessing I have (an amazing wife, a nice home, a good family, health, a great country, and a God who loves me). I am also thankful for hope, because without hope, all of this wouldn't be possible, nor would what is to come.

Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have gained access by faith into this grace in which we now stand. And we rejoice in the hope of the glory of God. Not only so, but we also rejoice in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope. And hope does not disappoint us, because God has poured out his love into our hearts by the Holy Spirit, whom he has given us. Romans 5:1-5

Today I hope you have many things to be thankful for. And if not, I hope you have hope. "Hope does not disappoint us" and for that we should all be thankful.