A funny thing happened on the way to Thanksgiving

Fall is one of my favorite times of the year, but Fall in California is no where near as lovely as Fall in New England, where I am from. I do miss the beautiful leaves turning, en mass, but we do have leaves that turn. I nabbed this photo as we were driving, and the various shades of oranges put me into a thankful mode. God could have made everything all one color, but He's too generous with His gifts to do that. He's painted His glory in the trees, the leaves, the flowers, the mountains, and in our cells. If we stop for a moment to listen, we'll hear "glory, glory!" coming from all of creation. If we stop. If we listen. We'll realize that there's Someone, "with Whom we have to do."

This year for Thanksgiving we invited a whole bunch of people, but for various reasons, in spite of our best efforts, we are just going to be four of us this year. In one way, it is nice, because today is our 32nd wedding anniversary, and there's something very sweet and intimate about having it be just my daughter and son-in-law and us here to celebrate together, and be thankful. I have an ache in my heart because I'm missing my son and daughter-in-law very much today, but there is still so much to be grateful for. So, I'm counting my blessings today. I'm choosing to count my blessings, and not my sorrows, and to savor in the delights of a beautiful, clear, crisp fall day here in San Francisco.

Of course, the weather could quickly turn and we could get socked in with fog, but even if it does, that will be fine with me. For now, it is glorious, and pretty and I just saw a hummingbird flitting around outside the window again. The turkey is out on the Webber Kettle in the backyard, and my daughter is making her spectacular Apple Cranberry Pie with homemade vanilla pastry cream, and I'm wondering if I can possibly manage a tiny piece of it, without totally blowing my eating plan to smithereens. It is that good--I guarantee it--and my mother would be proud of what a proficient baker she's become.

I'm realizing more and more that God, by design, puts us by sovereign grace into the families we need to be in, just so we can have the best opportunity possible to acknowledge His love and Lordship, now while we can. (One day, everyone on the planet from potentates to paupers will acknowledge Y'shua as Lord, but on that day, for some it will be in fear and anger and out of compulsion, not in reverent worship and awe) So I'm thankful as never before for the family I grew up in, for the place of pain and heartache that He scooped me out of in His grace. I would never have known that I was so desperately needy of His grace and mercy, had I been born anywhere else--I'm convinced of it. I have much to be grateful for, and I'm determined to be grateful even if sin has marred some of my joys on this side of eternity. As Paul Tripp has said, we do live in a broken down house of a world because of sin. But there is a Redeemer, who has come to make our hearts new and rescue us. He's actively seeking those who know they need rescue and mercy. I count myself grateful to be needing His rescue even more than I ever did before.