Taking time to be thankful

Gratitude makes us healthier and happier, according to recent studies. Are you feeling good, after setting yesterday aside to give thanks for all our blessings?

This year, I'm grateful for:

• you the reader. How you encourage me with your comments and interactions all year long!
• our little grandson, born healthy 2 days ago
• family who loves us
• friends who nurture us
• safe shelter, plenty of food, and warm clothing
• God, who generously pours out blessing upon blessing, entrusts us with free will (the ability to make choices that help or hurt others), and heals our hearts when our choices - and those of others - do harm.

We don't take any of these gifts for granted.

What made you especially thankful this year?

Anonymous quote

Read more:

*Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and do not rely on your own insight. In all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make straight your paths. Proverbs 3:5-6 ESV

*Therefore I am surely going to teach them, this time I am going to teach them my power and my might, and they shall know that my name is the Lord. Jeremiah 16:21

*Through Jesus Christ we have received grace and apostleship to bring about the obedience of faith among all the Gentiles for the sake of his name. Romans 1:5 ESV

Do not claim to be wiser than you are. Romans 12:16 ESV

Moravian Prayer: Heaven's Teacher, guide us as we constantly seek your truth. Open our minds to the glory, majesty, power, and peace of your everlasting love and give us the strength to bring your good news to the world.

Knowing Father, help us to feel the glory of your truth and make it a part of the road we travel. Grant each of us wisdom and hope as we move through our days, sharing your words and deeds along the way. Amen.

New every morning

Is your life an adventure or ho-hum day after day?

I've experienced both kinds of seasons. In one, you know the routines, get in the car at the same time each morning and return each evening, while attending meetings and fill out forms between. In the other, you wait to see what the day brings and how God will speak to and through you.

My checklist today:

• type at least 10 pages from Alice Wood's diary (from her handwritten notes)
• translate at least 10 pages from Uncle Erich's autobiography
• work on Harmonnaires and family reunions (1/2-1 hour)
• play piano at a CHRISTA luncheon (2 hours)
• option: watch 2 episodes of My Girl (Korean drama)

I love this season! Ralph Waldo Emerson said it well:

“Be not the slave of your own past––
plunge into the sublime seas,
dive deep, and swim far,
so you shall come back
with self-respect,
with new power,
with an advanced experience,
that shall explain
and overlook
the old.”

Is it any wonder I don't miss the "olden days"?

Read more:
*We wait in hope for the LORD;  he is our help and our shield. In him our hearts rejoice, for we trust in his holy name. May your unfailing love rest upon us, O LORD,  even as we put our hope in you. Psalm 33:20-22   NIV

 *You shall be called priests of the Lord; you shall be named ministers of our God. Isaiah 61:6

*You are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God's own people, in order that you may proclaim the mighty acts of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light. 1 Peter 2:9

Moravian Prayer: Dear Father, we pray that we may serve as your ministers, showing love and peace to those around us, sharing faith and hope to all in this world. Empower us with your gifts. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen.

Count 1000 ways

Martha handed me a wonderful book, one thousand gifts: A Dare to Live Fully Right Where You Are, for my birthday in March. Every few days, I read more of it. The poetry swings me into the pages and leaves me gasping with wonder. The power and enthusiasm, the bold life and creativity wrap around me. I can't read more than a few pages before I am engulfed and have to surface for blank air.

Some people's words help, encourage, and affirm. The language of others wounds and destroys. But this poet unfolds pleasure and pain, beauty and wonder using ordinary words, words used in conversation or correspondence.

After recognizing her negativity, Ann Voskamp began to write 1000 phrases of gratefulness. It was transforming. Liberating. Joyful. Her written gratitude unwound the strangulation of everyday blues, freeing her to live again.

"What could I lose," I asked myself as I felt like I was unraveling in the darkness of a seemingly endless grey Seattle spring?

I began to write my own 1000 ways, charting: things that made my heart sing; people who were life-givers; things that made me grateful. Sometimes, even, I just wrote down things that made me feel ok with not being dead and gone. (Yes, some days were that bad.)

Some mornings I couldn't wait to touch the pieces of the day and 25 items flowed freely: "glorious sunshine!," "birds chirping outside my window," "crisp white cotton duvet and pillowcases," or "soft breath flowing between W and me in the waking dawn." Some evenings I merely recorded 25 measures of relief for reaching the end of the day: "glad for the inky nightfall," "still breathing after the meeting," or "had to leave the party early, but am still barely intact."

Words. Words. Words. They bring life or death, says scripture.

How grateful I am for Psalms that affirm that God is good in this life. That people can be kind and generous. That our future and our hope is in God not our feelings. That circumstances change and better days come. That the cloud lifts and joy comes in the morning.

Today the sun streams in the office window, the dogs and I have walked, the fish swim in a cleaned aquarium, our daughter sleeps late, my husband tiles the new shower, the day stretches warm and welcoming into noon and beyond. (19 more, and I'm done for the day.) Thank God for Martha and her gift! (18 more...)

Try it! Write 25 things for which you are grateful, up to 1000 ways. See if deliberate, ongoing thankfulness transforms you and brings a smile to your face, as it does to mine.

Read more:
*The LORD is my strength and my song; he has become my salvation. He is my God, and I will praise him, my father’s God, and I will exalt him. Exodus 15:2 NIV

Pick a song, any psalm

Birth. Studies. Friendships. Dinners. Weddings. Funerals. I decided to take a few weeks vacation since my brain feels scrambled by all the events. I'm at home for the first summer in years, so the yard is weeded and the hedges are trimmed. The ferns haven't dried out in their pots, but hang lush and verdant from the porch hooks. The petunias once again droop with mildew from the constant drizzle, just when things were looking brighter.

"I've just realized that people are not very friendly in Seattle," someone remarked last week. He lives elsewhere, so he noted how we cut each other off in traffic, snarl when we think we should be ahead in line, and ignore others as though we are the only person walking or shopping. "It's not like that where I live. People smile, say hello, and are eager to help." Admittedly, he lives in a sunny state.

Seattle feels a bit grim this year. Financial downturns have made many feel unsettled. The weather hasn't helped. The clouds keep scudding the skies, just when we start to dry out from a lousy winter, mirroring the depression, uncertainty, and anger many people feel.

I smile when I hear someone say, "She never complains," or "You never hear a negative thing from him." I love to be around people like that, but it's constant discipline for me to stay positive in surroundings that stay cool and wet and dark. I'm more of a sun lizard than a damp slug in temperament.

Have you noticed that the Psalms complain as well as rejoice? Life is not always like florist roses with the thorns picked off. Sometimes our personal bed of roses includes aphids, stinky fish fertilizer, and razor-sharp irritation. While the beauty of life is astonishing, the pain is very real and personal, too. I love that some songs in the Bible end with, "Groan, can't you pay attention and change my circumstances?" while others go from sad to relieved that God is in control.

I'm going to find myself a happy Psalm today and say it OUT LOUD, thankful for sunshine and blue skies outside my window!