Blessings

Today I went to a really great funeral. We have really great funerals in the LDS church. I think that doesn't happen in other religions, so probably other people think that's a weird thing to say. We tend to celebrate life, and look at death as a passing on to other phases of living. It isn't so much an end of living as it is a beginning of something more. Sure, we miss the person who has moved on, and we feel sad that they have passed, but we don't think they are gone forever. We believe that we will be with them again, so we don't mourn them with finality.

So, the man whose funeral I went to was my niece's father-in-law, and my family podiatrist. His name was Dennis Blackburn. He was a very good man who was loved by so many people, the funeral was just so crowded it was neat. His family loved him deeply, and he obviously loved them. It was very touching.

The whole thing made me grateful. This Thanksgiving, and Christmas season, we're going to have a new tradition in our home. On Thanksgiving, we'll start a "Blessing Jar", by writing down blessings on strips of paper. Throughout the holiday season, we'll add strips of paper as we think of blessings, and then on Christmas morning we'll read all of our blessings. We'll just stop and take the time to thank the Lord for all of our blessings. In the middle of all of the chaos of opening Christmas presents and seeing what we got, we'll stop to remember the gifts we've received from God, and we'll thank him especially for the gift of his child, the Christ Child, the Savior of the world.

Happy Thanksgiving. Don't forget to count your blessings and remember from whom they came.