thankfulness is sooo cliche

thanksgiving is the day that most bloggers, myspace bulletiners, and text messagers all across the land devote their technological musings to the issue of thankfulness. you can almost hear the collective tap-tap-tapings of keyboards and cell phone buttons as they all take a moment to thank all the peeps up in their friend lists, their homies around the way and the b**tches and h**s in errry area code, ya hearrrd? word.

now this is all well and good as i'm sure many of those partaking in this unofficial tradition are in need of motivation to express their gratefulness. but does a one-time holiday-induced expression of thankfulness really constitute ACTUAL gratefulness? especially when some of the authors are the same kids who use these technological mediums to bitch and moan about the pettiest drama? [believe me, i include myself among these perpetrators as i have been guilty of my fair share of stuuuupid bulletining]

i know it's trite to say so plainly, but we are all so very blessed. we have food to eat, roofs over our heads, amazing friends and family, not to mention computers and cell phones through which to wax poetic about all of it. i've been attempting, sometimes unsuccessfully, to exercise true gratefulness and its application to my life. it's easy to get caught up in the minor ups and downs and lose sight of the bigger picture. it's easy to get mad, sad or pissed about trivial details that only serve to put the focus on the last place it should be: me.

today and every day the prayer of my heart is that i learn how to truly love. not love that is as fleeting the blink of a cursor but love that is enduringly patient, selflessly kind, secure enough to overcome jealousy, purely motivated in a way that doesn't necessitate boasting and not flippantly modest but truly humble. and as difficult as it is to practice, i want to love in way that doesn't keep record of wrongs - even when there are legitimate wrongs to keep record of - but rather keeps record of ennumerable blessings.

even despite my many shortcomings, i hope that i have been able to show you true love in this way. i know that i am continually blown away by how much i am loved by you as it is just further proof of God's incredible love for all of us.

i love you. no for real, i love you. and i am so very thankful for you.