Welcome, Gregory Taylor

Note from Ging: I apologize for the confusion. Kelly A. Harmon was scheduled for today, but I've moved her up in the slot. She and I had shared miscommunications and I almost missed out on her fine post.

Anyhow...today I'm featuring a would-be author. I recently had the good fortune to meet a man named Greg Taylor, when he petitioned to join my author's loop. Greg is interested in writing, and clearly has the talent. In exchanging the normal welcomes, etc., I discovered Greg is homeless and lives in a shelter at the moment. He has shared openly all the events that led him to this stage of his life, so I asked his permission to share the following with you. I was touched beyond words when I read it.

As we leave behind Thanksgiving and progress toward Christmas, I think his post is the most fitting of all to conclude a month of Thankfulness and enhance in our memories that life is more than material things, and we have blessing we often forget to count. My appreciation to Greg for allowing me to post the following:

Before this day of Thanksgiving cometh to an end, allow me to express my thanks for that which I've been blessed . . . . .

My life within the very definition of vagrancy affords me a whole new appreciation for my circumstances.

One revels in a few rays of direct sunlight when the temperature is a notch or two above freezing, and you are fated to be out in the elements. A tall, wide building is a blessing for the windbreak it gives. And when frozen fingers struggle to hold pen to paper, the value of gloves cannot be overstated. Even a blank sheet of paper can be priceless when demand is there to document one's life.

Finding a public clock when one lacks a watch is a serious gain when one must be on time to a soup kitchen or go hungry. The resounding peal of a cathedral's carillon provides a warming rendition of familiar hymns of yore. And thank You for a day that is clear, that I am not chilled to the bone by a soaking rain.
I thank you, God, for a brain that is active and intelligent. Thank you Lord for my not being physically handicapped, or having dire health issues like cancer. I celebrate living in a city where I can sleep upon the pavement without fearing molestation or assault.

Lastly, I appreciate those things I do not have. Thank You for my not having a drug habit, nor an alcohol dependency, as do so many of my circumstance, as they seek escape in false releases. Thanks be above for my not being incarcerated, as freedom is so very priceless. And thank You for my being free from the stressers of divorce, the grief over a lost loved one, or other such like.

I have so very much, even now when I have so very little. Above all, I have you, my Lord, as my constant companion, as I journey through these dire times. For this, I am truly blessed.

Gregory Taylor via post by shared computer in Homeless Shelter, USA.