Planted on the ROCK

 Her bright smile and exuberant personality rushed toward me with arms outstretched.  I braced myself for the inevitable hug. I am hugged every time she sees me coming and going.  I am hugged before and after a prayer.  I am hugged at the beginning and the end of meetings.  Her hugs surround me. The problem you ask? I am NOT a hugger.  I do not have a strong desire for physical touch.  My first thought is not to squeeze someone in love.  Nor is it my second thought.  It's not that my parents didn't lovingly embrace me as a child or that my husband is not attentive.  It's not that all my physical love is doled out to the kids during the day and I haven't any hugs left in reserve.  Outside of my immediate family, I am just not a touchy-feely kind of person. Is my discomfort with friendly hugs a result of keeping people at a distance?  Of controlling who and what I let get close to my heart?  Is it an attempt at protecting my ultra-sensitive feelings? Yes to all t

 November brings on a refreshing attitude of thankfulness.  People recognize the Lord in the smallest of places, among the spectacular and the everyday.  It's exciting to see exclamations of thankfulness over parents, spouses, children, veterans, and even the Internet.  Some are super sweet and others bring a tear to the eye.  Regardless of the actual object of thankfulness, our Provider, the Lord, is the origin of all things given.  He alone desires our praise and thanksgiving. Skip Thanksgiving?  My kids think it would be OK! I'm not sure of the atmosphere of your home but in mine, my children anxiously await the arrival of Halloween with its costumes and treats.  They want to skate through November and dive right into the revelry and celebration of Christ's birth.  They begin to circle their fifteen or twenty most favorite items in the toy catalog on November 1.  These kids have already begun to countdown the number of Sundays remaining on the calender until the da