“Be thankful in all circumstances, for this is God’s will for you who belong

to Christ Jesus.”

      (1 Thessalonians 5:18)

This past Friday we celebrated “Hot August Night”. The evening is an opportunity for the staff at St. Timothy to thank the many volunteers who give countless amounts of time, talent, and treasure to our parish community.   Without our volunteers, we would struggle as a parish to minister to the many people who come here. Publicly I would like to say “Thank You” to all of our volunteers. A special thank you goes to Amy Jo and Lance Ishmael who head up “Hot August Night”. My thanks and gratitude to them for helping make the evening a success. 

Recognizing the blessings and being thankful in our lives isn’t always easy. I often get caught up in what is going wrong that I can easily miss what is going right. In my first assignment as a pastor, I was fortunate to have a friend and confidant that I could talk to on a daily basis. More often that I would like to admit, I would share with him everything that was going wrong in my ministry. When I finally would take a breath, he would gently ask, “But, what’s going right?” It was a reminder to me that no matter the   struggles I am experiencing, there are always blessings to be thankful for. 

This is our challenge for the week. We all have challenges and difficulties and it is easy to get caught up in what is going wrong. But what are the blessings in your life and for what are you thankful? We don’t have to wait until Thanksgiving Day to remember to be thankful. By recognizing the blessings in our lives, we can be thankful everyday.

“Give thanks to the LORD for he is good, his mercy endures forever!” (Psalm 107:1)

God bless you all and have a great week!

Fr. Patrick