Happy Thanksgiving!

Greetings all,

All stock images are from Pixabay.

I sincerely hope you are all happy and healthy today. It’s an implausible hope, but isn’t the point of hope to believe in the unlikely? I wanted to spend a few moments to consider the things for which I am thankful.

The first thing for which I am thankful must be my relationship with God. I’ve spoken on Christianity a few times. I’m frankly not as close to God as I should be, not by a long shot. But I’m working in that direction, and that’s important to me. I honestly believe that everything is possible when he is by your side. I don’t speak about this a lot for a few reasons, but everything else I’m thankful for is possible because of him. This is my belief.

Next is my family. It’s an odd patchwork of my life, like a quilt comprised of my blood, friendship, and shipmates. I love them all, and if they know this, I’ve done the most important thing one can do in his life.

The rest are in no particular order. I’m equally grateful, and equally pleased by all of these things.

I love my job. More importantly, I love my students. Seeing them graduate is satisfying, but seeing them become successful leaders in the Navy is a feeling that’s worth more than any amount of money. No job is perfect, but as long as I get to teach, it’s all it needs to be.

I have a home. This isn’t a place I stay. It’s not a place someone allows me to live it. It’s mine. I’ve had it for a year now. I don’t treat it the way I should, and I hope to improve on that somehow. Still, this place is mine. It’s where I imagine I’ll spend the rest of my life unless some unforeseen blessings or trials come my way.

It’s easy in this line of work to get lost in aspiration, especially when one is as goal oriented as I am. However, if I take a step back, I see something quite amazing: people read my books and my blog. I’m grateful for each and every one of you. I’ve been writing since I was 8 years old. I’ve known I would pursue this dream since I was 17. I’m grateful for this particular gift. I’m grateful for the friends I’ve made over the year and those before it, but just knowing anyone has an even remote interest in my crazy ideas is something I’ll always be honored by.

So please, enjoy your turkey and football. Spend time with those you love. If it means anything, please know that I appreciate you for being in any way involved with my life. I hope you have a mountain of blessings for which to be thankful, but if you find yourself struggling, please try to remember that the very life you have is a blessing, even if it isn’t exactly how you want it to be.

I invite you to share what you’re thankful for in the comments below. I wish you all a happy Thanksgiving.

Thanks for reading,

Matt