I looked back to see what I wrote last year for Thanksgiving, and I decided to simply re-share this. But I wanted to add one thing. I have been more thankful this year for God’s commitment to validate my work. I sometimes share the story of 2008, when we had 300 lifetime prescriptions stopped in our patient base in that one year. Many times when I share it, I find myself missing the days of a busy HealthSprout. I know many of you think it is busy today. But the top days lately, have been 150 adjustments, as compared to 290 back then.
And the reality is, God used us in a big way then, and would today if we were diligent in His service. But that is another topic for another day. The thing that is really awesome, is that He senses those moments of need, and just like that, an amazing story happens. A woman gets pregnant who should not be able to get pregnant supposedly. Seizures stop. A cancer patient gets an all clear, and a lyme patient crosses over to healed. My year has been amazing with stories of healing. I can only be thankful that I am here in the middle of it all. And I am thankful for all of you who read. Thanks, be blessed this Thanksgiving season! – Dr. E
My annual tradition is BACK! Writing about Thanksgiving, the best holiday of the year. Why? Because what is better than stopping everything, and realizing you are blessed? Blessed beyond belief. Every single one of us, regardless of situation, are blessed beyond belief!
So, Thanksgiving. What does it mean to be thankful? We all fall short of reaching our “thank” potential on a daily basis. But when we reach for it, we can really hit a pretty strong level of “thanks”! Its how I start my days, been doing it ever since I went to Camp Transformation about five years ago. I came away with a plan to be at peace every morning, and so almost every morning since; I wake up and I start saying “thanks” in my head. Over and over, listing off whatever comes to my mind.
Thank you God for my wife, thank you for my daughter Brooke, for Ansley, thank you for the dog staring at me hoping I’ll let him out, thank you for this house that protects us, and for providing the comfort it brings, thank you for HealthSprout and for chiropractic, thank you for the opportunity to change lives through my career, and for the stories of health that we have seen, thank you for my health, and for the lessons I have learned through challenge…
It goes on and on. Some mornings, I wrap up in a minute or two, others it lasts for five to ten. This one habit has been the single most important part of my life for the last five years in finding joy in any situation. So whenever Thanksgiving comes along, I cannot help but feel an overwhelming thanks for all that is in my life. Even the part where I lost my left eye sight.
So lets turn this towards your life. How easy is it to be thankful for everything? For the great things, the awful things, and everything in between? I know Thanksgiving sure makes it easier, but there is a warmth wrapped up in this week that will make all things just a bit easier. But what about every other day? Can you stop and see the beauty in your pain?
My wife is better. We don’t know if she is better, but the Lyme disease that began about 5 months ago or so, seems to have drifted off… or at least gone dark for a bit (this is actually relatively common, where the bacteria takes a cyst form that isn’t killed by the antibiotic that is used). Right now, we are very thankful for what we are seeing. Very thankful and hopeful that this is it. But, though it isn’t as easy, I can find thanks in the effort to get here. The pain she has gone through leading to this point, because it strengthens our desire to know more, more about health, and about this disease. It gives us a desire to reach out and be helpful to others if we can, and to fixate on assisting those in places that are dark and desperate.
It is hard for many of us to find the joy in the fight. To see how difficulty shapes us into a better version of us. It is hard to see how every difficult situation is another way to grow. We are all guilty of being overwhelmed. But there is no advantage in being overwhelmed, the advantage is in being able to let the stress slip from us, and to focus on growth.
I think it is awesome that as I look at my life right now at 41 years old, I can see countless goals that I had set that never came to fruition. I have reached for the stars along the way, and in so many ways I have fallen short. But it is the mission that is worth it all. The desire to fight on and to grow. Thanksgiving as an historical moment, is all about this. How many of those early settlers died? Most of them. 45 of 102 who made the journey on the Mayflower were dead after their first winter. 57 carried on.
It wasn’t until Abraham Lincoln saw a need to unite the country in 1863 that America began to celebrate Thanksgiving. And in those early days, it was an inspired holiday, where thanks for life was plenty. Why? Because they were dead in the idle of the civil war, which ended up taking 750,000 lives.
750,000
I am not sure that I could ever have a thought again that wasn’t thankful when I consider that number. We all have an awesome responsibility to lead each other in joy. To be thankful for each other, and to share that thanks with everyone. To appreciate others and show them how important they are to you, regardless of what is in your heart or mind in the moment, to reach out of our situations and to be an inspiration of love.
I am thankful for all of you, and pray that you have an awesome week that leaves an imprint forever.
Looking for a way to help out around town this Holiday season? A way to give and show thanks? Check out our two options on this page, and the link to a whole bunch more! Be Rich HealthSprout Style
Be well and Be blessed! – Dr. E