As a young boy, I can still remember playing in the beautiful autumn leaves of brown and gold, laughing and throwing leaves everywhere with family and friends. Sometimes we would catch an unsuspecting family member and bury them under a huge pile of leaves and then run like crazy.

I can also remember playing football for hours in the crisp cool air, having fun, oblivious to time and loving every minute of it. However, as much as I enjoyed all of the various seasonal activities, probably my best memories of the autumn season were centered on the Thanksgiving holiday.

It was on this very special day that our large extended family would try and get together for fun, great food and loving fellowship. Grandparents, uncles, aunts, cousins and friends would come together and celebrate a day of love and thankfulness for the many blessings of God, regardless of the personal challenges they might have experienced that year. It was a time of laughing, encouraging and sometimes comforting one another.

To this day, these memories of our Thanksgiving celebrations are still a powerful reminder to me of what loving God and loving one another actually looks and feels like.

How about you, what are you thankful for? Even during our difficult economic times, the vast majority of us as Americans live like royalty compared to 80 percent of the world. Is there a friend or family member that has helped you through a difficult time? Or a parent or friend that helped you to learn the value of good morals, hard work and a life lived well?

One of the ways I have found to express personal thankfulness for the many blessings in my life is to take the time to remember to thank those who have helped me and to try and share that same sense of love and encouragement with others that may be going through a difficult or lonely time. I have found that it is with a thankful and grateful heart that I more personally experience God’s blessings and become a blessing to others.

This Thanksgiving weekend, may you, your family and friends experience the love and blessings that come from the God who loves you — regardless of the challenges and storms of life we all experience at one time or another.

Be blessed and be a blessing

“Give thanks to the Lord for he is good…His love endures forever.” Psalm 107

Dr. Charles W. Judd is lead pastor at Church of the Nazarene in Federal Way: www.federalwaynazarene.org