Give Thanks

I am sitting here, on my last day. It is 7 am and I am waiting on the residents to show up so that I can orient them and then be on my way to what lies ahead for me for the rest of my life.

As I ponder here this morning, I give thanks. I give thanks for this past year that was a year of learning and a year of healing. I learned what it takes to be a better pastor. I have healed from the wounds inflicted on me by loved ones and by a church that turned its back on me when I needed it the most. I give thanks for all my new friends and I give thanks for a new church and a new denomination that has embraced me, even knowing that I was wounded.

I give thanks for my little dog Angel. In the three years since she has come to live with me, she has lived in three different places. I give thanks for her unconditional love and adaptability. All she cares about is that her "Mommy" comes home and is always there for her. There is a reason why dog spelled backwards is God.

I give thanks to my Creator God for all the blessings in my life, even as I look to an uncertain future. Since I was three years old, I have always known that God would take care of me, and God always has in ways that were too wonderful to even imagine. As I look to the uncertain future, I give thanks for God's next assignment, which I know will come in due time. All I ask of God at this time, is the same request as always - that when God tells me what it is my ears are open wide enough to hear and embrace the message.

Thank you, God, for all the blessings past and the blessings yet to come. Amen.