Thanksgiving just passed and though I have historical grievances with the day, I still enjoyed great food and company as some of my friends came together and made our small place feel more and more like home.

So I wanted to share a few things that I am grateful for.

#1 Is my belief in the Divine. It hasn’t always been strong, it hasn’t always had rational proof behind it, but nonetheless it was there. The last decade of my life has been an interesting one of figuring out my path when it came to my spirituality. I remember the day I was baptized and friends from my High school came to celebrate, months later I became a deacon and then a year later I began looking into higher studies in religious studies and Divinity. I was always searching, forever wanting to tie my rope to the anchor of God, not relying on what I had been told but rather what I would come to study and agree and sometimes disagree with. Now here I am, Muslim and continuing my journey of understanding my role in the relationship between myself and the Divine.

#2 I am grateful for the lust for knowledge that God endowed me with. I have some acquaintances that continually joke with me because since they’ve known me I have been studying for something. When I started University I would sit in classes that I wasn’t registered for (I made buddies with some professors), I would take free online courses, I had amassed a library in my home and everyone knew that if they chanced upon old copies of Nancy Drew or the Hardy Boys at a Garage sale that they should go ahead and buy them and bring them my way. That intense lust for knowledge, for reading, for widening my breast with the light of comprehension is something that everyone doesn’t have, nor want, and so I am grateful. Maybe it’s made me a better person, maybe it’s made me more empathetic to others, or maybe just made life expensive (Barnes and Nobles Gift Cards anyone?)

#3 I am grateful for the opportunities that God has entrusted me with. I say entrusted because I see them as a loan of sorts. My guidance to worshipping God with the vigor that I currently have can easily be taken away if it is not exercised, or my ability to study the faith that I now have waltzed into can be taken away if the DJ decides to turn off the music.

#5 My family. Take a moment and reflect on some child born to Jamaican Immigrants living in the states, grows up in a strict Christian household his entire life, accepts Islam as his faith, gets married and decides to pack up everything when an opportunity presented itself and goes to North Africa. My mom didn’t cry, she didn’t do much fussing either, in fact between her and my father I can’t put a finger on who was more supportive because they both made sure everything I needed was there. Even now if there are things left unfinished that I may have neglected proper to my leaving home, my mother is the first one to make sure they get rectified. She always calls with updates telling me how she made a few calls and had to take care of something for me. Then you can’t forget my wife who every step of the way has learned to adjust to a completely different environment and seamlessly made our new home feel as good as the one we left, all while being a better student than I will ever be. During those moments of sadness who is the one to comfort me? My wife. All praise to God.

And of course I can’t forget you dear reader! So on this day and hopefully everyday I just wanted to share some of what I’m grateful for, and to encourage myself to reflect daily on the blessings that I have. God willing that by reflecting on these blessings maybe God will give me more. May He give you more and continue to bless you.

May this be a reminder, for those who believe.

What things might you be grateful for? Do share!