On Thursday, our family will gather round the table to renew our feast ritual that borders on gluttony.

But you know Thanksgiving should be more than just a day of feasting.

This year, our family has had to do some schedule shifting and re-arrange a few things, but in the end, I think it is all going to work out and we'll be together.

That means so much to me.

As long as I have my wife, my children, grandchildren as well as other family members with me on Thanksgiving, I have everything in the world I need.

Actually every day ought to be a day of Thanksgiving, but I cherish that we have a special day set aside for this purpose.

Have you really pondered what it is to be truly thankful?

The last couple of years our family has set aside a time for personal thanksgiving sharing as we pause for our prayer before enjoying our big meal together.

As I look around our table on Thursday, there will be plenty of reasons -- young and old -- to truly give thanks.

This year, I am thankful I can walk because there are those who have never taken their first step and others like me who have had to be mended surgically to maintain our gait.

I am blessed to have been able to have make such good progress since my knee replacement surgery a short time ago on Aug. 31.

And you know, while I don't like to tote this darn black cane around, I am thankful I can accept it as being necessary for a few more weeks.

I trust that I will also be able to utter words of thanksgiving again closer to Christmas this year with my right knee replacement surgery quickly approaching on Dec. 4.

And, more than ever I'm very thankful for skillful surgeons and technological advances that allow worn-out body parts like mine to be repaired or replaced.

Call it growing older or wiser, but this year as I approach this Thanksgiving holiday I am thankful I can see the beauty all around me because there are those whose world is always dark.

I am thankful I can hear music playing because there are those around us their entire life has been spent in silence.

I am thankful I can work and not have to depend on others for even my most basic needs.

I am thankful I can move about freely and express my personal beliefs in this great country of ours because there are those in other lands who live in constant fear or reprisal and restraint.

I am thankful for the opportunity to help others -- even in a small way because there are those who have not been so abundantly blessed as I.

I am thankful for the gifts of friendship and love.

I'm thankful I had loving parents who gave me a chance to make something of my life.

I am thankful I have a family who cares, loves me for what I am, and prays for my shortcomings.

I am thankful I have a wife who puts up with my many faults and multiple failures. She's my best friend and worthy of more thanks than I can ever give her.

I am thankful I have been loved and not among those for whom no one has ever cared.

I am thankful I have neighbors and friends who look out for each other and come together for the causes closest to all of us.

I am thankful I live in a Christian nation that was founded on Christian principles by Christian men and women, who loved and feared God.

I am thankful for the freedoms we enjoy and for the brave Americans -- men and women -- who volunteer to put themselves in harms way and fight our enemies and oppressors around the globe to preserve our precious freedoms and liberties.

I am thankful for a forgiving and loving God who has granted me salvation and eternal life.

I am thankful for hope.

I am thankful for faith -- that peaceful and comforting assurance, that comes from within me. It is knowing in my heart that good can overcome evil, that the sun can shine brightly even in a heavy rainstorm.

Nick is the assistant editor for the Greene County Daily World. He can be reached by telephone at 847-4487 or 1-800-947-4487 or by e-mail at schneider.nick@gmail.com.