It is a great day to be thankful
March 27, 2024
By Jeff Becraft
I was just recently up in Maryland. My Dad will turn 98 this Sunday. He’s still a part of a Monday night men’s group that I got involved with back when covid first hit and they went online. My dad wasn’t as familiar with that kind of stuff so, I got involved and I’ve just stayed involved.
One of the guys of that group (who is an amazing person himself) contacted me and says, “Hey, I want to go down with you to visit your Dad while you’re up in Maryland.” So, he and I meet at the nursing home where my Dad has to stay. I had to get something out of my car, so I go outside and while I’m gone, Ken asked my Dad, “How are you doing, Ed?”
And my Dad’s response was this: “I am thankful.”
As Ken put it, here’s my Dad, 98 years old, he’s been bedridden for the last year and a half ever since he got covid in the fall of 2022, he has macular degeneration and so his eyesight is not very good, he has to be changed several times a day because he cannot use the bathroom on his own…
And his attitude is… “I am thankful.” That’s one of the secrets to my Dad’s life.
It is a principle that we can implement in our own lives. It doesn’t mean that everything is good. But we can be thankful in the midst of everything.
One of the greatest things, if you are around my Dad, is if you get to experience my Dad praying. If he does, he will always start the same way, “We give thanks, O Lord, for the many gifts and blessings that you have given us.”
He has never forgotten that. I may have said it before (I’m not sure) but when my Mom was diagnosed with alzheimer’s (and she had alzheimer’s for 14 years), my Dad said, “I never got mad at God. I was thankful for all the years we have had together.” And from that point on, my Dad took care of my Mom until she broke her hip and he couldn’t physically take care of her anymore. Even then, he continued to go down and visit with her every single day and have dinner with her in the nursing facility that she had to live in. Until one day he broke his hip and he could no longer drive. But even then, it was my brother who would go drive my Dad down to see my Mom until my mom passed away.
My Dad never got over the fact that God loved him and he has always been thankful for that and for everything he has received.
It is a great day to be thankful today.
Jeff Becraft is the Director of Our Place of Hope and the Director Emeritus for Youth Corps and has dedicated much of his life to helping shift the vision of people’s lives. Our Place of Hope is a paradigm shift for people living with mental illness that encourages them to regain meaning, purpose, and hope for their lives. You can connect with Jeff at [email protected].
