thankful.

I know Jorie just posted something similar, but I started reading Cold Tangerines this morning and began to feel overwhelmed with how truly thankful I am for friends and family (and also realized that I am not a very elegant writer).

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So here is an excerpt from Shauna Niequist which I think sums up quite nicely the blessing of friends and family:

Friendship is acting out God's love for people in tangible ways.

We were made to represent the love of God in each other's lives,

so that each person we walk through life with

has a more profound sense of God's love for them.

Friendship is an opportunity

to act on God's behalf in the lives of the people that we're close to,

reminding each other who God is.

When we do the hard, intimate work of friendship,

we bring a little more of the divine into daily life.

We get to remind one another about the bigger, more beautiful picture

that we can't always see from where we are.

Your life, right now,

today,

is exploding

with energy, and power

and detail, and dimension,

better than the best movie you have ever seen.

You

and your family, and your friends

and your house, and your dinner table

and your garage

have all the makings of a life of epic proportion,

a story of the ages.

Because they all are.

Every life is.

You are more than dust and bones. You are spirit and power and image of God. And you have been given Today.

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So this holiday season, thank you Shauna for putting it into better words than I could, and thank you to each one of you for being a little glimpse of God's love in my life. I am so thankful for each one of you and the laughter, joy, advice, thoughtfulness, and love that you bring into my life each and every day, even through struggles and difficult times. I am thankful for Today.