But the comment remained pinned on the bulletin board of my mind, and I have often looked back on it in the intervening years. Like peering the "wrong way" through binoculars, I see a different perspective of the picture she drew, a bigger reality that gives meaning to every single day, if only I remember. So, in the spirit of Thursdays are for thankfulness, I offer the following list of small things, gifts that whisper to me of the Giver.
1. I'm thankful for one jaunty Northern Bobwhite who joined me on my walk last week. His comical bobbing, his determination to keep putting one foot ahead of the other, made me smile. Sometimes when my life walk seems lonely, God sends an unexpected companion my way. He prompts someone to send me a card that arrives right then, right when I need it desperately. I get an e-mail from a new friend across the world that says …keep smiling… and then gives me a good reason to do just that. Recently, an old friend has re-entered my life in a way I could never have planned, guessed, imagined. Small things matter… phone call across the miles, carafe of coffee shared on the porch, tears of empathy...nourishment for the soul. I'm grateful for company on the journey, for reminders that I never walk alone. |
5. I'm thankful for green stems and buds. Yes, I know, this patch of hope is next to the house, protected, charmed from its snug bed by dryer vent warmth, always first to break through brown earth and snow cover. True, it will be weeks until flower-bright heads nod at me on the way to the clothesline, but it will happen! That fat bud on the lilac branch, the blush of red on an unknown twig, the smell of thawing leaf debris, the murmur of woodland water music, are a handful of scribbled promises if only I read them. Yes it is still winter, but this is not all there is. Not in my/your Valley, nor in my/your life. I'm grateful for little promises that offer great hope.
Thursdays are for thankfulness. -Hummin' B.