This weekend is my third favourite weekend of the year - after Christmas and Easter! Thanksgiving. So much to be grateful for. So much to be thankful for.

The first recorded Canadian Thanksgiving was in 1578, when explorer - Martin Frobisher’s expedition gave thanks for safe passage.

But even more than turkey - even more than potatoes and gravy - even more than pumpkin pie and whipped cream (although I really, really, really love pumpkin pie and whipped cream) - I love singing the old familiar hymns. Hymns that speak of harvest. Hymns that speak of provision. Hymns that speak of receiving good gifts from our Heavenly Father. This weekend does give us pause to remember what indeed we are thankful for.

Peter Marshall said it this way! “Father, we gather to thank You - for Your great gift of life - that Your love for us is not dependent upon any unworthiness of ours - for health - for clothes to wear - for those who love us best - for friends whose words of encouragement have often chased away dark clouds - for the zest of living - for many answered prayers - for kind providence that has preserved us from danger and harm.

Thank you that we live in a land bountifully able to supply all our needs - a land which still by Your Providence knows peace - whose skies are not darkened by the machines of the enemy - whose fields and woodlands are still unblasted by the flames of war - a land with peaceful valleys and smiling meadows. Help us appreciate all that we have - to be content with it - to be grateful for it - to be proud of it - not in an arrogant pride that boasts - but in a grateful pride that strives to be more worthy. We offer you our gratitude.”

Meeting you later in life was exactly how it was meant to happen. We were both healing - living life alone - working out our futures. Then God brought us together - to heal together - to love each other - to grow old together. Love hits different when it finds you later in life.

I’m grateful for where I live. This is my view - night after night. It never gets old.

These three - have my whole heart. Three sons - born in 1982,1983,1984! Three children to raise and nurture - now grown with families of their own. How grateful I am that God blessed me and our home. My biggest accomplishment in life will never be money or prestige - it will be the ones I raised!

Grateful for my three daughters-in-law. How wonderful in God’s providence that He provided my sons with these beautiful women. Grateful for their lives - the homes they came from - their gifts and personalities - the homes they have created with my sons.

Ten grandchildren. Six grandsons. Four grand-daughters. I can’t even find the words to describe my love for them and how incredibly proud I am of each of them.

Oh how thankful I am for the home I was raised in - for my parents - my brothers and my sisters! We recently celebrated two 85th birthdays.

So grateful for the abundance of delicious food we have to choose from for our meals.

This past summer I spent so many happy days on the pickle ball courts in Port Elgin. I met great people. I sweated in the hot sunshine. I laughed. I won some games I lost some games. But always came home fulfilled - and thrilled that I get to play the game I love.

So grateful for my faith - my church - my pastor - and those I worship with - Sunday after Sunday.

My girlfriends! Some I’ve known for a long time - some only for a short season - but all of these women have spoken grace and life into me.

I’m thankful for the hope of heaven after this life - for God’s grace while grieving the passing of loved ones - Randy - Dad - Mom - Tim - Ted and Bill. How we miss these dear ones. How grateful that their faith is now sight.

Thanksgiving shouldn’t be shut up into a single day - practice it everyday.