Thanksgiving Prayer

Thanks to Thee, O God, that I have risen today,
to the rising of this life itself;
may it be to Thine own glory,
O God of every gift, and to the glory, aid Thou my soul.
With the aiding of Thine own mercy,
even as I clothe my body with wool,
cover Thou my soul with the shadow of Thy wing.
Help me to avoid every sin,
And the source of every sin to forsake,
and as the mist scatters on the crest of the hills,
may each ill haze clear from my soul, O God.
~Thanksgiving Prayer - Irish
n

Today is my birthday. I am officially 54 years old.

Lord, let this feast of my birth be a reminder to me of all the gifts and blessings I have received from You this day and all the days of my life. On this my day of birth, I thank you for my life and all of my blessings and ask for another year filled with Your presence in my life that I may continue to grow in your love and grace.

Some thoughts:

Age is a high price to pay for maturity.
- Tom Stoppard

Growing old is like being increasingly penalized
for a crime you have not committed.
- Anthony Powell

The man who views the world at fifty the same as he did at twenty has wasted thirty years of his life.
- Muhammad Ali

With mirth and laughter let old wrinkles come.
William Shakespeare

There are three hundred and sixty-four days when you might get un-birthday presents ... and only one for birthday presents, you know.
~Lewis Carroll

The best birthdays of all are those that haven't arrived yet.
~Robert Orben

No wise man ever wished to be younger.
~Jonathan Swift

Old age has always been 15 years older than I am.

Age doesn't matter, unless your cheese, wine, or something left in Tupperware at the back of the fridge

And in closing:

"So you see, old age is really not so bad. May you come to know the condition! "
-- Cicero

Remembrance

In Flanderes Field the poppies blow
Between the crosses, row on row
That mark our place, and in the sky
The lark, still bravely singing flies,
Scarce heard amid the guns below.

We are the dead. Short days ago
We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow;
Loved and were loved, and now we lie
In Flanders Field.

Take up the quarrel with the Foe.
To you, from failing hands we throw
The torch; be yours to hold it high.
If ye break faith with us who die,
We shall not sleep, tho' poppies grow
In Flanders Field.

Happy New Year

The Thai New Year Songkran is celebrated every year on April 13 - 15. It is also celebrated in Laos, Cambodia, Myanmar, and by ethnic Dai in Yunnan, China. Sri Lanka also celebrates a similar festival called Sinhalese and Tamil New Year on the same dates.
An interresting celebration of Songkran is the throwing of water. People roam the streets with bowls of water, water guns or even a garden hose, and drench each other.
This festival emphasizes returning home to visit parents, paying respect to them, and usually bringing them a small gift. People also visit and pay respect to their older neighbors. For these reasons Songkran days are also considered the family days or the elderly days.

Christmas Mania

Firefighters in Mentor, Ohio, struggled to keep avid Christmas shoppers from continuing to enter the Dillards at Great Lakes Mall after a Dec. 6 electrical fire filled the store with smoke.

In Anderson, S.C., driver David Allen Rodgers, who was driving a float in the town's Christmas parade on Dec. 3 (despite being inebriated), was arrested after impatiently breaking out of the slow-moving parade line and speeding down Main Street, endangering riders and spectators.

The London regional manager of unemployment offices banned traditional Christmas decorations because he did not want his clients (since they are jobless in the holiday season) to feel worse by witnessing any festive spirit.

Melody Howell of Richburg, N.C., expanded her collection of full-sized, designer-decorated Christmas trees this year to 52, all placed inside her 2,500-square-foot home.

[Chicago Tribune-AP, 12-8-06] [WIS-TV (Columbia, S.C.)-AP, 12-6-06] [The Sun (London), 12-9-06 Wilmington Star, 12-10-06]

12 Days of Christmas Trivia

People across the world celebrate Christmas with great fun and fervor. Christmas or 25th December is considered the starting of Christian year. It continues up to 6th January. It is known as the Epiphany day. People in England were unable to celebrate Christmas from 1558 to 1829. During this period, ‘The Twelve Days of Christmas’ was written.

In the pear tree, there is one partridge. This partridge stands for Jesus Christ.
Two turtledoves symbolize Old Testament and New Testaments.
Three French hens symbolize faith, hope and love.
Four calling birds stand for four gospels.
Five golden rings symbolize first five books of old testaments.
Six geese symbolize six days of creation.
Seven swans symbolize sevenfold gifts of spirit.
Eight milking maids represent eight beatitudes.
Nine dancing ladies symbolize nine fruits of spirit.
Ten leaping lords symbolize ten commandments
Eleven piping pipers signify eleven faithful disciples.
Twelve drummers stands for twelve points in Apostle Creed.

Unusual Thanksgiving Blessings

I have taken to sending Thanksgiving cards a few years ago. They tend to be noticed and not lost in the hustle and bustle of the Christmas season.
Following are two unusual “blessings” I came across while selecting cards for friends and family:

Thanksgiving…
When else would you celebrate
by giving your loved ones the bird
after they tell you to stuff it!

Let’s eat
until our butts
quiver
like cranberry sauce
out of a can.

I must confess that I did indeed use both of those cards,
Happy Thanksgiving.