THE Roman year ends with its usual flux of family, friends, food, festivity.
Amid the merrymaking, this column takes time out from "connections" to thank The Creator of All That Is for the blessings of the year.
Thank You God for my family and the Love that binds us.
Thank You that there are no serious rifts between us and that our preferred company is actually: Us.
Thank You for the moments we have managed to be together this year, despite crazy distances between.
Thank you for residing in our homes so that they are households of Your reign.
Thank you God for my family who were not borne of my mother's womb but are family anyways.
They are numerous in number and I thank You for each of them that blesses our lives simply by being in them, many without even knowing that they are blessings.
Thank You God for the roofs over our heads, the food on our table, the bounty of Your sheer Abundance.
Thank You for our jobs by which we express our talents and praise You by that expression.
Thank You for the technology that eases our days in so many, many ways.
Thank You for the many times we have laughed this year, as laughter is not just the best medicine, but also an expression of joy and fun and good times. The laughter that reverberates through them enhances our happiness.
Thank You God for family and friends who remain so through thick or thin and all those times in between, blessing even a tough time with Light and Love, and turning things around simply with kindness and a reminder that God rules.
Thank You God for the kindnesses that literally drop from your heavens like magic, so many that I can only live so many, many days in just total gratitude.
Thank You for the people whom We Don't Like because even as we pray for them to disappear, they are purveyors of lessons we must learn, even if the lessons are all of them simply about how to deal with bad manners, the uneducated, the not all there, the annoying, the bad, the ugly.
Thank You for all other lessons, even those difficult to learn.
At the same time, thank You for like-minded people to feel comfortable with. Thank you that they are allies in battles that must be fought.
Thank You for every single blessing showered upon me from Eternity to Eternity.
Thank You for a 2019 to look forward to with great expectations!
Happy New Year to one and all!