Week 19: Thanks

I sat in my car, Over the Rhine playing, while I waited to shadow the vans of students and teachers on the way to the grocery store/back to our residence. I watched all the teachers and students walk out on a blustery sunny November afternoon, the leaves tumbling around their feet, early afternoon sun hitting them. We had left school early as it was the day before Thanksgiving and there's always some novelty to leaving school early, too. But as I looked at all these young women I had grown so close to in the past year or two- people who had been strangers to me 18 months ago, and in some cases even 3 months ago, who now seem something like family. I realized how thankful I am for everything I'm given. And I mean that in a continual sense- I'm thankful for the fact that blessings are continual- I can move far away, my entire life can change, turn upside down, I can move to a place where I know no one, and somehow I always find myself with more people to love, more people who will support me, make me laugh, make me smile. Of course, in order for the continuum to exist, eventually a number of these blessings must eventually fade out and be replaced by new faces. All the more reason to be thankful for what I have, who I know today, because it may soon be gone tomorrow.
We spend so much time planning our future, we sometimes forget to be Thankful for our present. So, this week, maybe I'll take a break from praying for things, praying about the future, and pray a little more prayers of Thanks for all the things I've been given, all the transitions into new phases of my life that have come, gone, and come again, and brought me safely and happily to this place. I know everything in the weeks and years to come will be fine, no matter the outcome, no matter God's answer, because I have so much evidence of my past that God's plan for my life is good, and I have oh so much to be thankful for.