As we gather together to count the Lord’s blessings this season, it feels right to name a few that tend to show up later in our lives. We are thankful for aging, and for the acceptance that allows us to see that life can be good at any age. Following is my ‘alphabet’ of gratitude for this season of living. May we find ourselves grateful for:
- Acceptance: the grace of realizing life does not have to be perfect to be good.
- Boundaries: saying “no” so “yes” actually counts.
- Connection: the community that makes life feel shared, not solitary.
- Depth: the habit of looking past the surface to what actually matters.
- Ease: feeling at home in your own life.
- Freedom: choosing what deserves your time and energy.
- Gratitude: for ordinary days, familiar routines, and second chances.
- Humor: the survival skill that ages as well as you do.
- Insight: the quiet clarity that comes from paying attention to your own life.
- Joy: the moment some part of you says, “yes, this.”
- Kindness: meeting this stage of life with generosity, not judgment.
- Legacy: not what has your name on it, but what has your influence in it.
- Memory: the ongoing conversation between past and present.
- Nature: the original mentor in seasons, loss, and return.
- Openness: being influenced by good ideas and good people.
- Perspective: the clarity that tends to arrive only with time.
- Quiet confidence: the settled feeling that you are sturdy inside your own life.
- Resilience: the strength that carried you farther than you ever planned to go.
- Simplicity: the elegance of enough.
- Time: the thing we blame for changing us but rely on to deepen us.
- Unfinished dreams: the part of you that still imagines a different version of tomorrow.
- Voice: telling the truth about what matters now.
- Wisdom: not knowing everything, just knowing what to pay attention to.
- Experience: the raw material this stage of life is built on.
- Yearning: proof there is more to come.
- Zeal: energy with a purpose.
May aging teach us how to cherish what lasts. This Thanksgiving, may we notice what endures and give thanks for the life still unfolding before us. I wish you abundant blessings, now and always. I’m so very grateful to have you along on this journey with me.
Until next month, dear reader, be well.