There he goes again: more prayer and thanksgiving. Yup. Lots of it today. I hope this post will inspire you to some of your own.
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We go about our lives trying very hard just to keep moving forward, not failing. That’s a pretty low bar, but it’s what many of us have set as our goal. Don’t win big, don’t triumph, just get by and avoid disaster. I’m not willing to live my life that way, it’s boring and demeaning. There are times we pull into our shells and recoup our strength. There are times we muddle along. But when we fully appreciate the things around us and give thanks to God for all of it we flourish as immortal beings. Yes, we are immortal beings (well, some are immoral beings – amazing what just one letter changes.) Are we not children of The One True King?
With that in mind, I give thanks today. I thank God for my friend Dusty who’s coming back from a tour of duty in Afghanistan. I don’t know what the Gunnery Sgt. has been up to there, I don’t want to know – secret squirrel stuff. I am glad that she’s coming home. She’s coming home a changed woman. For the better, I suspect. She’s coming home to a husband and kids who adore her. She’s coming back leaner and meaner. She’s coming back as a tested leader. She’s coming back as my friend. I will continue to pray for her – it’s tough coming back from a deployment. Six months is a long time. I was a complete rat and jerk for at least a week after I’d been gone for a month or three. Double that and I would have needed a month in a stupor sleeping on the floor before I could be trusted in polite society. I hope and pray her transition is quicker and less difficult.
I give thanks for the power of prayer and God’s healing. My church witnessed that power on Sunday when one of our ministerial staff, Reverend Robinson, had a seizure/episode/whatever at the end of the early service. Ambulance summoned, hundreds of voices lifted in prayer, all of you praying throughout the day, and the Rev. good to go for preaching the late service. God had a hand in that – no doubt about it. I’m thankful for the power of the blood.
I’m thankful for a great week of vacation in Florida with my mom and my wife. Best vacation we’d had in years, probably the best visit with my mom since my father passed away. We didn’t do much of anything special – except for the Cuban cafe and we’ll do that later down the road – but we all loved each other and made things smooth. I cooked, I ate, I wrote, I prayed, I talked with them both. It was what I needed after a winter that just never quit. I came back to 40 degree weather (a heat wave around here) and a clear sidewalk.
I give thanks for a job where my brain is challenged. I love going to work and doing what I do and making customers happy. I’m the wizard behind the curtain: they never talk to me, never see me, never even know my name. But if I do my part in the play their equipment works and their lives improve. I don’t want or need their accolades, just doing the job well is enough for me. How many of you have a job where you can say that? I am truly blessed in that regard.
I thank God for a dog who smiles and wags her tail when I walk in the door. Stormy has come so far in the last 15 months. I am in love with her and all that she brings to our house. God picked her out for us, and us for her. She’s over at the couch right now loving on my wife and I’m so full of joy looking at the two of them that it’s about to burst me.
Those are just a few of the things I’m thankful for today. I’m thankful for you, my readers, as well. You are a source of joy and strength to me in this blog. Thank you, God, for these good people who flip to this page and read along with my life.
