“Better a handful with quietness than both hands full, together with toil and grasping for the wind.” (Ecclesiastes 4:6)

I'm not exactly sure what happened but it seems I turned around 
and Thanksgiving is past.  November has been a rough month.  
Cody has had a rough go of it. The bad days have definitely 
outnumbered the good days. 

A week before Thanksgiving we ended up in the ER with a terrible
case of pleurisy/ costrochondritis that made it difficult to breath.
He has spent most of the month on prednisone which makes him
ever so much fun to be around (not). After about four good days
it is back.

Rachel was home for five days, that visit went by entirely too fast! 
In three weeks though she will be home for Christmas break.

Although this month that we celebrate our thankfulness has been
one that has been tenuous to say the least... I am well aware of
the many blessings we have. I am finding that having a thankful heart 
is sometimes an act of my will.  I have to choose to not look at
the overwhelming circumstances and threatening clouds and look
at the good things instead. That doesn't mean I walk around in denial
of the bad circumstances... it means I have to remember that
God has brought us through troubled times before. I do not 
believe he has brought us this far to leave us now.

I read somewhere that bad days cause faith's rubber to meet 
life's road.  And I found as it says in Ecclesiastes 4:6 Better a handful
with quietness than both hands full, together with toil and grasping
for the wind.

November comes and November goes with the last red berries and and the first white snows....Clyde Watson

I looked out the window just now and its snowing, and this poem came to mind...

The first to fall is the first to go.
Earth wears its mantle damp and chill-
Patina of November snow.

Leaves raged with fire just days ago-
Now grays, ash browns, pale yellows tell
The first to fall are the first to go.

Remains of harvest in desolate row
Brace for the final winter kill
Beneath their shroud of November snow.

The rakes now dry, the plow and hoe
Await Spring's promise to fulfill-
The first to fall are the first to go.

Lit by the sky's anemic glow
The pines are standing stiff and still,
defiant of November snow.

In barns of silence wait those who know
What lies beneath the fields they till-
The first to fall are the first to go,
Together with November snow.

November Snow by Joseph Pacheco

I am not sure I am ready for snow just yet, I am not sure I am ready to give
up the beauty and richness of autumn for the seeming bleakness of winter.
Oh winter is beautiful too! I honestly love for Thanksgiving to start the swing of the Holiday season.  

The thing about winter is that looks are deceiving.  It would appear to the naked eye that everything is gray and dead, but all the while the foundations for spring are being laid.  Life is like that at times too.  It would seem all
hope is lost and yet we do not know what God is doing behind the scenes.
Galatians 4:4-5 tells us 'But when the fullness of time had come, God sent forth His son, born of a women, born under the law, to redeem those who were under the law, so that we might receive adoption as sons.'

So the question is how will you weather your winter season? God is always
in control, He is always working behind the scenes putting His plan in motion.
Will praise Him for what you can't see and trust Him?