A Thursday to Be Thankful

Good Morning! I hope you are not suffering the July 5th blues quite as harshly as I usually do. I hope the fireworks and watermelons and patriotism warmed your soul like a blanket, and that you celebrated as hard as those kids in ‘The Sandlot.’ God bless the USA.

To jump right to it: I am reading this new book, called 1000 Gifts. And really it’s not new to anyone but me, because I think I am the last person I know to have read it. It’s phenomenal, and I am only on Chapter 3. The whole book is about celebrating the life we are living now, the little precious moments, and about living a life of thankfulness for all of the gifts that God willingly gives to us on a daily basis. It’s a challenge, per say, to live “your best life now” with more biblical undertones and without all the Joel Osteen bull crap.

So I am taking the challenge. In the book, the author writes down things she is thankful for every day. And because I am clumsy and exceedingly forgetful, (PRONE TO GET BORED AND PRONE TO NO FOLLOW THROUGH) I am going to stumble into this like I’m drunk in a dark room of obstacles. For now I will take Thursdays, on the blog, to list 10 things that I am exceptionally thankful for. The little things that I am so grateful to God for giving.

“To name a thing is to manifest the meaning and value God gave it, to know it as coming from God and to know its place and function within the cosmos created by God. To name a thing, in other words, is to bless God for it and in it. …In naming that which is right before me, that which I’d otherwise miss, the invisible becomes visible.”

10 Things I am Exceedingly Thankful for:

1. A most adored friend, who loves the Lord harder than any, who agrees to just sit and listen to my (hormonal) rant about the metaphorical swift kick to the gut that happens sometimes out of nowhere and leaves my soul torn and broken. A friend who makes it SAFE to be fully myself and who applauds my strengths and encourages me in my failures. And further, who loves me because and despite of exactly who I am. Thank you God, for Bethany.

2. The feeling of cool water engulfing my head on an excruciatingly hot summer day, and watching the water droplets dry from my legs while I lay beside the community pool on a day off from work.

3. Life in a country established on freedom. The most exceptional gift, the US of A. (And for fireworks to celebrate its birth.  Because fireworks are the BEST!)

4. Hot showers in the morning. Cool showers in the evening.

5. Fans. (Fans being the only way I survive summer nights.)

6. Skype and its plagiarized version of hanging out with friends who are scattered around the country.

7. Surprise gifts in the (snail) mail. (Especially when said gift is an ENORMOUS Texas flag!)

8. A song that brings joyful tears on the way to work. Today, that was “Sweetly Broken” by Jeremy Riddle.

9. Plum and Peach season! Fresh fruit!

10. Books, real books, with their smelly pages and their water soaked spots splashed from cannon balls.

That’s my list for today. I am blessed beyond measure and I am so grateful for a God who loves me. What are you thankful for this Thursday?