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Hope Stone Good morning Team awesome and Happy Thanksgiving! I pray you all have a wonderful time with family and friends whether you celebrate today or tomorrow. If you don’t have anyone to share the holiday with then invite someone, there is probably some else alone and who would love an invite, sometime you have to put yourself out there to get back. It’s funny I have been lying in bed thinking of all the wonderful things I can be thankful for (especially this year) and the list is overwhelming... They say count your blessings (this is a song not a bible verse), well If I was to do that I’d be sitting here for a while... I’m not sure of your family traditions but every year before we eat we go around the table and voice at least one blessing for the year something we are thankful for. As I laid there thinking about the blessings in my life, I couldn't help but think of the trails and things I didn't want in my life the things we never say thank you for and why would we? Here is where I want to challenge you, offer you a different side or thought... There is a verse in the bible that is not as well-known as the count your blessing song...and I doubt ever celebrated, but this is it... Consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters, whenever you face trials of many kinds -James 1:2. Do we ever consider our trails as blessing we should be thankful for???As I lay there thinking about this new revelation I have stumbled on, my mind flew to so many different scenarios in my life. I was thinking about all the times there were trails and horrible things I had to go through or needed to deal with and then the thought... was it not through these dark times in my life that I grew and changed? I don’t know about you guys but for me when life is flowing along going good and everything’s coming up roses, who do we rely on? Our God, our family and friends? Or do we go it alone knowing that we are in control and need no one. That is usually me, don’t want to bother God he’s a busy guy, don’t need family or friends life is good. Now think about when something comes into your life that causes pain, sickness, loss, heart ache, the feeling of failure ...I thing you know what I’m saying...Is it not through these things that we find out who we are and what we are made of? Do we not rise to the challenge or maybe humble ourselves and grow? Do we reach out to others around us or allow them to reach out to us? Do we change? Do we learn compassion, empathy, love and acceptance either for someone else or for ourselves? Do we forgive ourselves or others? Do we look deep inside ourselves and take stock of whom we are and where we are going in life? When I look back in my life I see where the trials and pain helped me grow to the person I am today. At the time didn’t see it or want to go through it but, when I came out the other side and I could look clearly that there was a reason for everything. How else can we learn? I heard that there was an experiment (true or not I think it speaks to the point) where scientists took 20 fruit trees and put 10 in the sunlight 24/7 and 10 in sunshine for 12 hours and darkness for 12 hours. The first 10 trees stop producing fruit, leaves shriveled and the trees eventually died. Then the other fruit trees bloomed grew lots of fruit and where healthy productive trees, see it’s through the darkness in our life that makes us healthy and beautiful. This year has been a difficult one and I am not ready to say Thank you God for allowing me to have cancer but I can say thank you God for the blessings that have come out of this cancer. The love, the friends, the compassion, the empathy and the amount of people that have reached out to me and my family people I didn't even know before. There have been many blessings even that fact that I was struggling with high blood pressure before my cancer diagnoses. You know what I don’t have high blood pressure any more the week or so after me finding out my stress level was gone pressure normal sometimes better than normal...What could I do or worry about with the 3-4 weeks they gave me, things that I stressed over for years was gone and they still are. The other day I told you I went to a naturopath the first guy great and is helping me already the second guy told me that it was my fault that I had cancer because I had been a high stressor my whole life and that I yo-yo dieted, talk about a guy that needs to learn a little compassion and bed side manner. I’ll tell you what I thought in my mind to him... that’s right the big “F” you dude...Like I need this shit on me, it’s not my fault and even if it is what can I do about it now? Needless to say I did not book a return visit. So I guess what I am trying to say is that maybe this Thanksgiving we should be thinking of maybe something others wouldn’t consider a mention of thanks around the family table. That maybe some failure or bad event that has happened in our lives that we have learned from, Maybe it is this that you should be most thankful for because it has made you the wonderful, compassionate person you are. I love you all...I thank you for your trails that you have gone through it has made you truly wonderful, loving, compassionate people and I am thankful for all of you. May God Bless you richly this holiday weekend! P.S. If you want please share one of your dark times and how you improved because of it..