Thursday are for thankfulness.
Every November, here in the United States, we set aside one (ONE!) Thursday as a day the of Thanksgiving. We celebrate with feasting, family, and football, not necessarily in that order. But it is not enough, not nearly enough. And of course, neither is one day a week enough to express all my thanks, all my gratitude for all that God is and does in my life. If you've been reading here awhile, you know that I'm a list-makin', list-lovin' woman, and my favorite list of all is my Lenten List of Gratitude which has taken on a life of its own. What began as my tidy little offering of thanksgiving to God has been quietly slipping itself into the margins of my notebook and my life. It has become His gift to me, changing my perspective, broadening my vision to catch glimpses of all He is doing, while simultaneously narrowing my focus to see, really see, His hand in the smallest details of an ordinary day. (How does He do that? I don't know, I'm just thankful He does!)
Two great blue herons fly across my morning window view. (Oh, I'll put them on The List.) An email from a far place offers a word of encouragement at precisely the hour I need it (The List again!) or something I've been praying about for months is suddenly resolved in a way I'd never considered. (Yes! For The List!!)
This perspective of gratitude, it's not a destination, it's just part of my journey, and days like today I realize I have "...miles to go before I sleep...Still, on Thursdays, I'll put bits of my list here -
- for my sake, to keep me watching and listening.
- for your sake, to challenge you to create your own list.
- for His sake, because it is the least I can do.
Thursdays are for thankfulness.
-Some of you know I'm in the midst of saying goodbye to an entire era of my life, cleaning out my childhood home in preparation for my parents' estate and property sale on Saturday. The day after tomorrow. Some days I forget to be thankful but God never forgets to be faithful. He's just like that. (And, I'm thankful for that!!) So, although it's late, here goes with a few bits of gratitude from today's list:
-I have a childhood to grieve, a "place" to which I can bid farewell, all my growing up years centered in one solid blue shuttered house.
-I had some quiet, alone days in the house to wipe warm wood floors and salty tears.
-Although I am an only child, I haven't really felt alone in the process. Husband, friends, church family, neighbors, cousins, my parents friends. So many cards. And meals. And prayers. And hours spent carting armloads of ...stuff and cleaning and sweating. So. much. love.
-And then this morning, one last breath-taking Lancaster County sunrise. One last time to look across the field, to stand in pj's and try to take it in, to take in all that my little camera couldn't capture: the mockingbirds fussing from tree to shrub, the swirl of mist rising, the hum of traffic, the whisper of a breeze in the tall, tall pines. One last sunrise, full of poignant hope and promise. This is not the end. We are not home yet. Not one of us.
Hummin' B.