A Fall Cruise

Could it be the manifold and magnanimous Grace of God in a myriad of ways? Is it the freedom from greed and stress and a life filled with contentment? Is it the relative good health that my wife and I are experiencing in 2021? Is it the 49 years plus that my bride has lovingly put up with me? Is it that our three children and eight grand children are all well? To be honest, there are a ton of things for which I am grateful. So many in fact that I don't really know where to begin. I cannot begin to categorize best or better, most or less. Okay. I got it. How, or should one decline a blessing from others who desire to bless you? How does one refuse a gift? Hang on now, because this road could get a bit rocky. I'll just take what I consider a BLESSING that others might deem small, and might come without much thought on their part. However, for me, this was not a trivial matter, but one that required respectfulness and sensitivity toward the other parties as well as myself. There's this experience that happened this past Spring as a BLESSING From God because I could not have responded by gracefully declining on my own. God aided me to make it happen. We have friends who have been on about 29 cruises. They lovingly desired to enable us to experience a cruise with them. My wife and I had never gone on a cruise before nor given thought to one. We did not oppose cruises, but it wasn't a luxury in which we were interested. Our friend's offer was a once in a lifetime BLESSING to which I had to say 'no', primarily because the timing did not feel right with too many uncertainties surrounding COVID 19. Our friends had no qualms about the cruise, but I had a big boat load of questions. The 'givers', our friends, felt that God wanted to use them to BLESS us. I wasn't sure what God wanted, but I knew that I did not desire such A BLESSING. So this might sound ridiculous, but MY BLESSING was in the ability to say 'no' to A BLESSING. MY BLESSING was that God enabled me to decline their loving gift without hurting their feelings. 110221PSCtest, Thanksgiving Blessings Poetry, Regina McIntosh