Connie Writes

His Banner – November 2018 Much to be Thankful For by Connie Hawkins I love Thanksgiving.   It really makes me sad that retailers hop into September advertising ‘back to school’ in July.   In September Halloween is on display; they brush right past Thanksgiving as they hurry into the Christmas season. Thanksgiving Day is a national holiday celebrated in Canada , the United States , some of the Caribbean islands , and Liberia . It began as a day of giving thanks for the blessing of the harvest . Although Thanksgiving has historical roots in religious and cultural traditions, it has long been celebrated as a secular holiday and that, in my opinion, is sad.   God has a lot to say in the Bible about hearts of gratitude, being thankful and giving thanks. Although it’s deemed a ‘secular’ holiday, Thanksgiving is the one day of the year that we should come before God with hearts of thanksgiving, not taking the day for granted or brushing it aside as if it’s only...

We just got back from a family vacation at Disney World.   It took months of saving and planning but taking the grandchildren to Disney is a memory I will always cherish and I hope they will, too.   Memories are a gift that shows us what life is all about.   They don’t just happen, they are made.   The faces of my grandchildren as they stepped from their world into a Magic Kingdom was priceless, a memory that you just can’t put into words. I’m sure a million feelings swirled inside their heads…their oohs and aahs and wows warmed this grandma’s heart.   I’m sure the kids didn’t even realize that we, as a family, were making memories – they were just having fun. I think one of the reasons we hold onto our memories so tight is because memories are the only things that don’t change when everything else around us is changing.   No one can ever take our memories from us; they will remain with us throughout our lives if not in our thoughts but through our ...