Between Scary and Sacred

This morning at church Dr. Hufty spoke about what lies between the Scary and the Sacred a.k.a. Halloween and Christmas. That, as most of us know, is Thanksgiving......the forgotten holiday. From Sept 1st through Oct 31st we are subjected to stores filled with ghostly gobblins making wretched noises as we pass them by, all our beloved candies recolored in orange and black, racks of itchy costumes all in disarray. Then, on Nov 1st we walk in those same stores and the oodles of "scary stuff" is carted off to some distant corner of the store almost hidden away like a despised step-child and in it's place are "the sacred items" such as Christmas trees (prelit of course), aisles filled will red, green, blue, silver and gold glass ornaments, Nativity scenes of varying sizes and prices, and enough wrapping paper and Scotch tape to gift wrap the planet earth.

On Nov 1st the leaves on the trees are still holding on....still changing from luscious green to the warm tones of autumn. The crispness in the air is finally letting us know it just may be here to stay. It is such a sensational time to stop and reflect on yet another season of thanksgiving but WAIT, where did it go???

Dr. Hufty paralled this worldly transition from the scary to the sacred by using the scripture out of Luke where Jesus healed the 10 Lepers. With just His words he healed them and as those 10 outcasts went from the scary (the leper colony where they lived) to the sacred (to see the priests who would ritualistically cleanse them for entry back into normal society) only one count them, ONE, came back to Jesus and gave thanks for the healing. WOW!!!

So, my challenge to myself and anyone reading who wishes to take it on is this: While the world sees the need to skim over "the thankful" in an effort to do what they feel has to be done for the economy (pah-lease) I am going to take this time to stop and offer up my thanksgiving for the blessings in my life. I may not blog it everyday but at some point during the day I will quietly reflect on 3 things I am thankful for.

I will start with these 3 things:

1. Thank you Jesus for second (third, fourth, one hundredth) chances. Your mercy is amazing.

2. Thank you Jesus for my hilarious little Molly-dog who has rediscovered her toy box.

3. Thank you Jesus for Autumn colors and the eyes to behold them.

Photo by: Andy Cook

Image is linked to Rocky Mountain Reflections Photography, Inc. where you can view more awesome photos by this amazing photographer. I chose this photo for my post because I loved how it shows a gorgeous sunset, glowing Aspens and the snow-capped mountains.