A Time To Be Thankful

THURS., SEPT. 16, 1999, 8:29 PM
FARM, STUDY

Yes, o son, this is a time to be thankful (but, then, when is it not time to have thanks as a major “feeling”!?). The hurricane called Floyd was not as destructive as predicted, and your son, Bob, and his family are safe… with just some repairs on their house to complete. They were in danger, because of the strength of the storm, but, for whatever combination of reasons, they decided not to travel away from the storm, and it was not as destructive as predicted. Remember that I have urged you, for years now, to be thankful for beneficial actions… even thankful to Me, whether or not I have anything to do, directly, with the action.

So, there was danger, and no one in that family was harmed. Thankful you should be. You assume that Larry and his family also are safe, and that also deserves thanks… as well as for the millions who could have been harmed… those you know only as “fellow Americans” or “fellow humans.”

You can be… and are… thankful for beautiful, warm, late summer days, with Fall nights creeping in. Yet you also would be even more thankful for some soaking rain, even as you see newscasts showing rain water way beyond needs in the hurricane area. You would be thankful for rain, and they would be thankful for some bright skies and warm sunshine.

You are reasonably appreciative of the life you lead, of your home place, and for most of the remembrances of life that has been yours to live. It has been quite a “good one,” as I observe and contribute to earth lives. You are not thankful for the several “losses” you now are experiencing, but I’d like to hear more thanks for what you still have, rather than too much focus on the losses. (For example, be thankful for this well-functioning right hand, rather than giving too much attention to the muumuu left one.)

I want you to consider whether this slowness in “getting to” the writing of this next Ruminations is just now-normal slowness, OR whether you are not as accepting of cancer as an eventual cause of your death as I want you to be, and therefore ( 8:56 / 9:26 ) you’re “avoiding” this tangible admission, to this fine span of readers, that your health is now threatened. Just count on Me to keep after you for this… to be written in quite a positive way… as only you can do.

A main focus for your thankfulness is to be, naturally, that you have had a wonderful, productive, helpful, and happy life. If you were Dyer’s age you probably would be acting and thinking comparably to what you just have heard from him… but you’re not his age… you’re 27 years older, you’ve had the productive portion of your life, and you can foresee some of the “down-side” of becoming even older and reacting to the aggressive treatment he is anticipating.

And, yes, I’ll say it yet again – the length of any earth life is of very little consequence in the Whole panorama of your spiritual growth back to Me. As you’ll see… and eventually “remember”… there are disadvantages in living a long earth life and, actually, some advantages in a short time here in the earth. And I want you to recognize (and you do!) that dropping this body in your 70’s, before further “deterioration” takes place, is rather ideal. Your culture doesn’t value this, and this is an example of not trusting Me as the “giver of all that is good.” (I do have fun chiding some “good Christians” who have spent much time, resources, and attention to medical means for living longer, in their last years. Some are truly embarrassed and sorry for such thoughts and actions, succumbing to cultural pressures. Others… hmmm…