Autumn is here and it reminds me how much I have to be thankful for. Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday. A time to gather with family and friends and observe the greatest purpose of living, to love. Here’s a list of things that I’ve been blessed with…

A dad that teaches me patience and to love unconditionally.
A mom that teaches me to laugh and be strong when I need to.
A sister that teaches me friendship and hope in the future.
A brother that teaches me humility and to see the world in a new way.
A husband that challenges my faith and teaches me to love others where they are.
A community of friends that teach me to have fun and live each moment to it’s fullest.
A home to rest, learn and fellowship with those I love.
A faith that opens my eyes to what’s important and true.
A peace that only comes from trusting God.

1 Corinthians 13

“If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal. If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have a faith that can move mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. If I give all I possess to the poor and surrender my body to the flames, but have not love, I gain nothing.

Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It is not rude, it is not self–seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.

Love never fails. But where there are prophecies, they will cease; where there are tongues, they will be stilled; where there is knowledge, it will pass away. For we know in part and we prophesy in part, but when perfection comes, the imperfect disappears. When I was a child, I talked like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I put childish ways behind me. Now we see but a poor reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known.

And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love.

Two roads diverged in a yellow wood,
And sorry I could not travel both
And be one traveler, long I stood
And looked down one as far as I could
To where it bent in the undergrowth;

Then took the other, just as fair,
And having perhaps the better claim
Because it was grassy and wanted wear,
Though as for that the passing there
Had worn them really about the same,

And both that morning equally lay
In leaves no step had trodden black.
Oh, I marked the first for another day!
Yet knowing how way leads on to way
I doubted if I should ever come back.

I shall be telling this with a sigh
Somewhere ages and ages hence:
Two roads diverged in a wood, and I,
I took the one less traveled by,
And that has made all the difference.

Robert Frost

I am tongue-tide
My thoughts are screaming aloud, but no sound.
Emotions well up in my chest fighting to suppress the lump of silence in my throat.
My cup of coffee no longer warms my hands, but feels bitter.
Looking from within my soul I see the unspoken request, inquiries, desires, fears, laughter.
I notice your sideways smile, your subtle glance in my direction.
Catching your eyes linger with my own; communicating without words.
Yearning to speak, pry into my soul. Pour out the fear and hesitation along with my cold cup of coffee.
Turn me inside out. Fill my empty mouth with your conversation.
My lips burn for yours, though they melt when I’m with you.
Hanging on your every word. Listening, anticipating, concentrating on the shift of your smile.
Words drip from your lips like honey. I can taste them.
I cowardly stutter in your presence. Why do I feel this way?
Don’t speak. Tell me through your eyes, through your sideways smile, through your reserved touch.
Can I feel your meaning? Where are you coming from?
Sit down with me. Don’t go anywhere. Stay here.
Warm your hands around my cup of coffee.
Talk to me. Talk with me.

SR (2000)