Appreciation

These are just some thoughts that have been running though my head today. They're a little scrambled, but I hope you can make sense of them. Today was Student Appreciation Day. Staff members went around campus, sporting a balloon, and a grocery bag full of ziplock-bagged cookies. I received one, with an orange (my favorite color) note attached: "It's not whether you get knocked down; it's whether you get up." Inside the bag I found a perfect cookie -- Chocolate mint. What a nice way to be appreciated! I know that I don't thank people enough. I hardly ever tell my parents how much I am indebted to them for their training. Who would I be today if they had not followed the Bible example: "Train up a child in the way he should go, and when he is old, he will not depart from it," (Proverbs 22:6 KJV). How often I've felt tormented by evil, but I have the firm training from the hand of God, through my family and it helps me. I don't often think to thank my roommate for all the enjoyment and happiness she brings. I hear of people whose rooming arrangements just didn't work. Praise God, I had the roommate or my choice, my tried and true friend. Even in this Holiday time of Thanksgiving, and Christmas, I don't think to thank God for the peace He brings, and for holding me up. Praise God that I can trust Him! He will take care of my deficiencies, and will also help me do my best. So I only have 13.01 days left till I board my plane for home. I can't tell you how exciting that is! That's something to be appreciative for! But I also have 13.00 days of tests, finals, and deadlines. Shoot, way to take all the fun out of the next few days. But I know I can trust God to take care of me, and to carry me though. That's really something to be thankful for! So what are you thankful for? Who do you appreciate?