REAL ESTATE
by Jim Coleman, REALTOR®
THANKS GIVING IS IMPORTANT EVEN IN TOUGH TIMES
The expression of thanks, the process and experience of giving thanks, and the reflection of Thanksgiving are matters very personal and unique. They are in direct relation to the life experiences one has enjoyed or suffered. I am thankful for the great blessings given me to be in this great land of freedom and abundance. I am thankful I have had the opportunity to fail and to grow; to deal with adversity and become strong; to excel and realize the thrill of high achievement; to enjoy the peace of happy relationships with family, loved ones and associates.
I am thankful for the great individuals who have given me opportunity and helped me to gain vision and strive for accomplishment through service to others and realizing personal development in the process. Above all, I acknowledge and give thanks to the Lord who has given me all I have and who has made it possible to progress due to His great gift to all mankind. I am a very fortunate man.
Truly, Thanksgiving is a time not only to reflect upon the goodness of life and enumerate acts of kindness and inventory blessings too numerous to count, but also make personal acknowledgement and give heart-felt thanks while thinking of those less fortunate and striving to help them gain a measure of peace and greater prosperity.
In the face of difficult economic times, acknowledging there are many in our land and our society who are suffering severely, it is nevertheless, impressive to reflect upon the pronouncement by this nation's president when the institutionalization of Thanksgiving was formalized with the Proclamation by President Abraham Lincoln setting apart a day of National humiliation, fasting, and prayer in 1863. The Senate of the United States "devoutly recognizing the Supreme Authority and just Government of Almighty God, in all the affairs of men and of nations…" by resolution requested the President to "designate and set apart a day for National prayer and humiliation."
As we reflect upon our conditions today, we would do well to remember that this country was experiencing serious conditions amidst the terrible Civil War when President Lincoln issued the Proclamation. Yet Lincoln stated "that those nations only are blessed whose God is the Lord." He additionally said: "We have been the recipients of the choicest bounties of Heaven. We have been preserved these many years, in peace and prosperity. We have grown in numbers, wealth and power, as no other nation has ever grown. But we have forgotten God. We have forgotten the gracious hand which preserved us in peace, and multiplied and enriched and strengthened us; and we have vainly imagined, in the deceitfulness of our hearts, that all these blessings were produced by some superior wisdom and virtue of our own. Intoxicated with unbroken success, we have become too self-sufficient to feel the necessity of redeeming and preserving grace, too proud to pray to the God that made us!" Is there a message from this utterance several decades ago that we would do well to ponder and adhere to today?
So, while this is that usual, wonderful, heart-warming season of the year with opportunity to extend and give of oneself, touching others and rendering assistance, truly there is call for appropriate expression of gratitude and thanks. This is also a very sensitive and delicate time when there are many in our society, in our communities, who are discouraged, depressed, despondent and deprived; whose life will only be improved by those who "have" and who are willing to give and to share. Oh, that we might strive to be of "one heart" and "one mind" with a common care for the good of those in need.
St. George REALTOR® Jim Coleman is Associate Broker and Partner/Owner of ERA Brokers Consolidated. He Specializes in Residential, Investment and Commercial Real Estate, holding National Designations of Accredited Buyers Representative (ABR), Certified Residential Specialist (CRS), Resort and Second Home Property Specialist (RSPS) and Seniors Real Estate Specialist (SRES). You can contact him by e-mail at Jim@RealtorJimC.com. Call: (435) 674-0600; or write: Jim Coleman, 201 East St. George Boulevard, St. George, Utah 84770. This and other columns are available at www.RealtorJimC.com/articles.