The Hancock-Henderson Quill, Inc.

Looking For The Good Makes Us Thankful

by: Dessa Rodeffer, Publisher

28 November 2001

When leaving the thank offering service in Media a couple weeks ago, I gained a new perspective.

The speaker gave a poem entitled, "I'm Thankful For" which tells how you can find blessings in things we usually complain about.

I have placed the poem on the front page of both papers for your enjoyment.

The poem may teach each of us that there is so many good things to enjoy if we just look for the blessing in our situation.

The first line in the poem says "I'm thankful for taxes I pay, because it means I have an income."

"I'm thankful for the clothes that are too snug, because it means I have enough to eat."

I think this outlook is the key to contentment. We might see how many things we can add to Karen Davis's list.

It reminds me of a poem my mother use to read to me about being thankful for dirty dishes for they have a story to tell about the abundance of food we have.

It is a little harder to use this point at the death of my brother, Gary, this week, but Gary taught me, I can.

Gary had prostrate cancer but fought it for 2 1/2 years after doctors gave him six months at his first visit.

It may have been his background as a United States Marine that made him so strong through the fight. He was determined to go to work each day up until he was hospitalized four weeks ago.

Although, it is hard to find things to be thankful for at difficult times such as this, I am thankful that I had this very special brother.

I guess it is appropriate that he joins my father in Heaven first. Being a middle child, he never had that one on one time that every son needs with a dad. Now he will.

Gary was one of the few, besides my parents, who asked me to play the piano for him. He loved to play the piano. I stopped to see him several months ago when he had been trying to play, but seemed to weak from chemo treatments he was taking.

He asked me to play while he sat in a chair. He wanted me to play "What A Wonderful World" by Louie Armstrong. It was hard, but believe me, it made me think how much we take each day for granted. We don't really look at life, like the sunset and sunrise, the way Gary had the last couple of years.

He asked me to play that song over and over.

We have circumstances that give us all the reason in the world to groan, but each moment, life is passing us by. Gary learned to look for the good in the smallest things, and that's when he could say, "What A Wonderful World!"