I'm Thankful ---

Well, its been another good day for me. I could write about that this evening but I'll do what I set out to do earlier. I had started a post, then in trying to get a picture on it, I lost everything, so now I'm back again. Anyway, the things I'm thankful for seem to be coming faster than my commitment calls for. Perhaps by the end of the month I'll be searching for material to write about. So here are my three things:

1. I'm truly grateful that I have a hobby. I have worked with wood most of my life. I've worked for a contractor, built two new houses for our family, worked in three cabinet shops, and tinkered with hobbies using wood for many years. My current hobby is making pens and pencils from different kinds of wood. Of course I need to buy the hardware required, but I use many different kinds of wood for the pens/pencils.

Some of the various woods I have used are osage orange, gnarled walnut, mulberry, lyptus, cocobolo, Indian rosewood, maple, purple heart, as well as some that included more than one kind of wood. I thoroughly enjoy my hobbie and am glad that I have been able to do this again after several weeks of not being up to it.

2. One of the blessings I receive from my hobby is to give some of these pens and pencils away. I use this as a means of blessing the recipients. Sometimes though I feel that more blessing comes my way than for others. Most of my medical care givers have been recipients of my pens. Others are some of the "special friends" I am blest with. There are some of my pens on display in the Villa Gift Shop which I donated to them. And I have also sold quite a few. I don't know how many pens and pencils I have made since I began this, but it would no doubt be 150 or more. I did not start this as a business, and I intend to keep it that way.

3. Having enough money to pay my bills each month and to live quite comfortably is a blessing I am thankful for. That isn't to say that we are overflowing with money. We live on a small, monthly retirement check, Social Security, and some that Clara earns working part time. But for now its enough, and I'm truly grateful for that. Living costs are rising but my income isn't keeping up. But I do not worry about that right now. We have been taken care of all of our lives and I expect that will continue in some way. We have been through some harder times, and we have also had some better times. We are trying to live out the teachings of Jesus, in particular when He said, "seek first the Kingdom of God and all these things shall be added unto you." Worry gets one nowhere. So we are trusting the One who is our Shepherd, as Psalm 23 states, "The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want."

That's all for today. Tomorrow will be another day.

Pilgrim on the way