Celebrating Thanksgiving this week brings forth both memories of the past and gratitude for the countless blessings Life continually gives. The choice is always ours to recognize and acknowledge our blessings or closes our eyes and awareness to them. Today as I write this, I am thinking back exactly one year ago as I celebrated my 70th birthday with a grand party and the book signing of my first book, Lacy Shoelace. A whole year has passed and with it totally different circumstances have transpired in my life. No longer working as a commercial insurance agent, I have been playing and teaching and loving my now 2 -year-old granddaughter for the past 9 months. It has also been 13 months since my only sister, Joy, passed. The topic for this Sunday’s message is “Joy Bubbles Up”. Joy certainly bubbles up when I think about all the time I have had with Adilyn and my son and daughter-in-law. Joy bubbles up when I sit in the stillness and feel the love of Spirit warm me from inside out. Joy bubbles up when I see a beautiful sunrise or sunset. Joy bubbles up when I sit by the warmth of the fire in my wood burning stove. Joy bubbles up when I am with those that I love, friends and family. Joy is an inside quality that is not dependent on circumstances, for it is a spiritual essence that is available to us in the blink of an eye. Looking out from my office window my gaze is cast upon the majestic El Capitan Mountain in it’s early morning splendor. My heart leaps with gratitude for this sight, for it re minds me of the solid rock foundation upon which I live, move and have my being. I am ever so grateful that I know I am one with the One; one with Peace, Love, Harmony, Wholeness and all the other qualities my finite mind uses to acknowledge the Infinite. Count your blessings this week in all the ways God so generously and gracefully gives them to you. Say with me: “I behold the wonder and splendor God brings to my awareness daily. I count my blessings and feel joy bubbling up from deep within my soul. For this I am ever so grateful. And it is so.”
— Rev. Gay Beauregard, Alpine Church of Spiritual Living
