Happy Thanksgiving!

It’s a picture perfect Monday afternoon in mid-November. The weekend snow has covered my valley in a blanket of virgin-white snow, and the ski-buffs, snowmobile and tourist industry are happy and hoping to be well fed. I have, personally, a much quieter view. The snow will provide much needed early year water, which will help us through another dry season here in the desert; and the calm and peace that descends with the white powder is a welcome respite to the constant pounding of rushed-up construction jobs that have filled our ears and will again mar our roads next spring. That perennial orange and white “flower” that litters our roadscape will soon wilt into slumber, and we will be able to travel safely, if perhaps with caution, through the winter scene.

Winter to me is constantly a season of re-birth, of perhaps re-thinking where I am and where I am going. It is time spent in quiet contemplation of the mysteries of the universe, and of the earthly relationships I have today. Life is good, and life, fortunately, will continue with or without my aid and approval. This is a season I look forward to, most especially for it’s time spent in solitude, not only in my snowshoe treks through the mountains I love so much, but also for the time spent in my chair, meditating on the wonder of this world. For as much as the Almighty has seen to send the animals to winter quarters and rest, He has sent me to places of beauty and forgiveness. He is telling me to review the year just past, to forgive and forget, to grow, love and enjoy.

Relative to His design, I spent time today enjoying the glorious day, the sun on the mountains fresh with snow, even as the next storm graces the Oquirrh mountains with clouds. From a vantage point high on the East side of the Salt Lake Valley, I looked with tenderness on my home, on my life. It is time now for me to be kind to myself, as He is being kind to all His world. He is giving, through the winter snow, life itself to a high desert, and I am grateful for that. He is giving me life renewed, a chance to begin anew the journey through life, and again I am grateful.

Life, and the journey it gives us, is to be enjoyed! And today, for some peculiar reason, I am enjoying and reveling in the onset of Winter, the renewal of quiet, contemplative times; a time to remember and give thanks for all the wonders and glories that have been shown to me, that I have been allowed to enjoy.

Thanksgiving, that unusual and peculiar American holiday, is a scant few days away. What ever you are thankful for this year, celebrate it, and enjoy in your own fashion. I will be thankful for all that I am receiving, and thankful for all that is yet to occur. I wish you a Happy Thanksgiving, and a joyous year to come!