Thinking of You on Thanksgiving

"I would maintain that thanks are the highest form of thought, and that gratitude is happiness doubled by wonder." -- G.K. Chesterton

I am truly, genuinely, profoundly thankful
for all that God has done for me.
For all that He has given me.
For all that He has promised me.

He has healed my body.
He has freed my mind.
He has restored my soul.
He has renewed my spirit.
He has provided what I need, and more.
He has given me gifts.
He has spoken to me.
He has shown Himself to me.

He has given Himself, for me, and to me.
And for that, of course, I am thankful above all.

But after Himself,
I thank Him most
For you.
That I have seen you.
That I have known you.
That I have loved you.

I thank Him for the time that we had
and the wonder of the loveliness that I first beheld in you.
I thank Him for the example
and the inspiration you gave me.
You challenged me to become
a better version of myself.
A man whom I always felt was there,
but trapped
hidden
imprisoned
mired in the morass
of the ugliness of the world.

I thank Him for the things He's taught me
about Himself
and about myself
through loving you
and through losing you.
Things I never would have seen
if it hadn't happened this way.
For only a love of this magnitude
is stronger than despair.

Most of all,
I thank Him that you are.
For it matters more that you are
than that I should have you.