tinamhunt

Day 17: Wormy Thanks

No, this is not about fishing. My thanks today is completely related to books.

Hi, my name is Tina and I’m a book a holic. For the last 5yrs I have arranged my work schedule around this sale, which happens 4 times a year. Today I bought 13 hardbacks and 9 paperbacks and spent $15.75. My favorite find was a 2vol. Tyndale Word Study NT and Concordance. I have wanted a set of these for-ehhhh-ver. When I spotted them on the bottom shelf, in the back corner of the last room, I let out a squeal of delight. My daughter was on the other side of the room and she said she heard me.

When I was a pastor, I was very intentional about growing my library. When I transitioned from the senior pastorate to chaplaincy I sold off a big chunk because we needed the money. When I left ministry and counseling I sold a large part of my library and then again a few years later I weeded through my collection again. I’ve made a habbit in recent years to either donate books back to the library or to my church library. It’s a good thing to do and makes room for new additions. 🙂

So this little bookworm is thankful for books today. And happy too.

Day 16 TGIF or TGITD

I have always thought that it was a bit unfair to favor one day over another. I spent most of my life as a workaholic, so there was little time for rest on the weekend. It seemed to me that all the thankfulness for Friday was a bunch of hoo-ha. Age and perspective have tempered my opinion on this, but probably not in the way you would think.

Nope. I’m not a big fan of living for one day, banking all my hope on the end of trudging off to the workplace. Nope. I love everyday equally. I treasure the breath put into each day. I enjoy living now. For me, it really is TGITD: thank God it’s this day, or TGIT: thank God it’s today.

This IS the day the Lord has made, I will rejoice and be glad in it.

Day 15 Frankful

No. This doesn’t haven’t anything to do with hot dogs. Today I’m thankful for time with a friend. I went over to a friend’s house for lunch. On the way I stopped and picked up a Pumpkin Caramel Pecan latte for each of us. We savored our yummy beverages and visited for a while. When it was time for lunch she asked if I wanted to go out to eat since she didn’t have anything in the house that I could eat. (Smile.) So we went to a little Mom and Pop’s restaurant in the crossroad town near her. I ordered liver and onions and was so verrrrrry happy I did. Melt in your mouth tender with just the right amount of onions. So yummy.

Then we went back to her house and talked for a couple hours. It was so nice. She has surgery the week after Thanksgiving so it may be a few weeks until we get together again. In the meantime we’re looking for recipes for things to make for Christmas. We did that last year and it was fun to make and even more fun to give.

Day 14 Too Busy to Be Thankful

How about too tired? The day was full, demanding my attention and when I was completing a task, I was reading Stephen James’ “Placebo” and loving it. Then at 8:30 with my Nook in my hand, I fell asleep in the living room chair. Today was one of those days that served as a reminder to not allow the urgent to crowd out what’s truly important.

The good news is, while I may not have put fingers to keyboard to let y’all in on my thoughts, I was a really thankful camper. I had to get my 89yr old little lady up and to the doctor’s office by 9:40. On the surface, this appeared to be an impossibility, especially since she’s been sleeping soundly until ten or eleven each day. But I am thankful that she woke up and cooperated and we got the doctor’s office and were only ten minutes late. Then within an hour, we were home and she was sipping on tea. As if that wasn’t enough to be thankful for, she superceeded ever expectation I could ever have by staying sweet spirited throughout the trip and during the rest of my shift.

Thankful. Yep. That’s me.

Day 13 On My Honor, I Am Thankful

Today as I was thinking over my long list of things to be thankful for, I started thinking about the adults who gave of themselves to mold me into the person I have been and am becoming. Does that thought seem as odd to you as it does to me? I’m 55 and I am still becoming. Not too many years ago, I wouldn’t have understood that, but now it is something for which I am thankful. Perhaps I’ll write more about that another day.

As I sat here trying to decide whether to write about Sunday school teachers, youth pastors, or school teachers, I was flooded with my fond memories of my time in Girl Scouts: winter camping (minus the freezing latrine); learning to bake and sew; cookie and calendar sales; and sweet friendships. I met the most influential person in my life through Girl Scouts. Whether I realized it or not, I was given solid examples of strong women, women in leadership. These women filled in the gap for my mother when she functioning more as supportive wife than nurturing mother. (This was an awareness we both came to over one of those really deep conversations while playing Scrabble.)

I tried to be a Girl Scout leader when we lived in Wisconsin. I had to quit. It’s hard work and I wasn’t in a place with enough support to do an adequate job. My girls were very young and needed more of me and I was attempting to pastor a struggling congregation far away from family and friends. Realizing how much time, energy, planning, and creativity it took to be a G.S. leader grew my appreciation for the women who filled those roles a hundred-fold.

So to those women, thank you. Thank you from the bottom of my heart. And even though I won’t eat even one, I will buy my share of cookies this year in honor of you and support of all those women out there now who give so much.

Day 12 Tenacious Life-shaping Thankfulnes

Day 12
I sat down to type this on my Nook Tablet, and I noticed that my phone was about to die so I had to stop and pull out my charger and attach it to the extension cord plugged into the power strip. As I walked back to the table I got a notification that one of my friends had just played in one of our Words With Friends games, which was followed by a notification that I just got a text from my daughter.

I sat back down at the table and smiled. While it may look like today’s thankatuity is for technology, which I am grateful for, sitting here I am awash in thanks that God wired us to be curious and creative and tenacious.

In a former job, I taught a class which had as its premise that there is genius in each of us. Now that’s not to say that we can expect to be budding Edisons or Einsteins, Jordans or Gretzkys, Jobs or Gates, but in your sphere of influence you are the expert on you. And God says he put you right where he wants you to make the difference and impact that only you can make.

So how will you change and shape your world for good and God?

Day 11: Gratuities

(You know how all the videos you want to connect to start with a 20 or 30 ad these days? Well, here’s your ad: don’t forget to tip your server. Both of my daughters have worked in the food industry. Younger daughter supports herself and her young son that way. She’s quite amazing at her job. In fact, when she was being interviewed for her current position the manager stated quite emphatically: Anyone who didn’t hire you is a fool. The problem is that people are tight, especially in this economy. But servers count on tips. Leaving a track is insulting and gives believers a black eye. Dine resposibly.)

Ok, here’s what I’m really wanting to say…I looked up the word gratuity and one of the definitions is to be given something without claim or demand. Sounds like grace to me. I am thankful for grace, mercy, and favor. There have been times in my life where I didn’t get what I deserved (mercy) and when by divine intervention I received undeserved consideration (favor). I would love to say that I have always been grateful for these things, but quite honestly, I missed some and refused others.

Isn’t that crazy? Yet we do it all the time. People have reached out with blessings and I felt like I didn’t deserve them, shouldn’t accept them, and walk away from them. Too often pride or shame or some goofy combination of the two keep us from accepting gifts and blessings. It makes even less sense when you understand that we have been blessed to be a blessing (Gen. 12:2).

Well, my purpose isn’t to preach…just to be thankful and invite you to keep your eyes open for the graces that come your way this week. Don’t be so focused on looking for the showers of blessings that you miss the mercy drops falling around you!

Day 9 Counting Blessings

I am thankful today that I am wired to see the positive, to find the blessing, to find the good in what others can only see as empty and bad.

Do you know that kind of person? They seem only able to see the negative, what’s missing and wrong. They’re the kind of people who always seem to be looking at the underneath side of things. I often wonder if they would know a blessing if it walke up and kissed them on the face. (At this point, all I can think of is Lucy of Peanuts: Eww, dog germs.)

Sigh. People like that drain me. Is that too honest? I think part of the reason that they do is that when I get around these Negative Neds and Nancys I fee responsible for trying to help them see the positive. I spend my time like some kind of NFL cheerleader on a mega dose of caffiene. It’s exhausting….and most often futile.

My life is F.U.L.L. of blessings. That awareness helped me when I was in jail. Even there I was able to see positive things. Granted, some days I had to look even harder, but I could always find something. The good thing is that I don’t need a whole lot. I’m very content with the mercy drops that fall around me, I don’t need the Showers of Blessing.

I guess that’s why Paul’s message to the Philippians has always resonated with me: Not that I was ever in need, for I have learned how to be content with whatever I have. (Phil. 4:11) This truth became real and foundational when I began to grasp more fully, and allowed the truth to get ahold of me, that “The Lord is my Shepherd, I have everything that I need.” Don’t have it? Don’t need it.

I count myself blessed. I am content in the blessings.

Politically Naive and Prayerful

I’m not a highly political person. I tend to roll with the flow instead of swimming against the tide. I ride the wave, I don’t make them. I don’t share my opinions very often, because I’m not as savvy as those around me, and I’m not a big fan of conflict. But I do have a couple things I want to say now that this election is over.

First, I firmly believe that our system is horrendously flawed. The thing that grated on me the most as this election droned on was the endless impossible promises that were being made. No one can promise anything because as soon as they try to push for their platform and programs their efforts are thwarted by the other party who, responding like a spoiled three year old puts their own interests (read pride) ahead of their opponents. Civil servants. That’s what we need not self-centered, ego-driven, professional systematicians who completely lack civility and have no concept of what it means to be a servant.

And we are no better than they. I was scrolling through my tweets today and I began to unfollow people. I get it that someone might be disappointed that their candidate didn’t win, but to make statements like: freedom and democracy died yesterday does nothing but fuel the fires that are burning and destroying. Are we spoiled children who only know how to take our marbles and go home when we don’t get our way? Or are we adults who know how to work together for the common good? Why does it take tragedy and adversity to blur the political lines so we can work in unity? Why isn’t this modus operandi?

I finally came upon a few tweets that encouraged prayer for our nation, our leaders, and our president. As believers, shouldn’t that be what we are about? If there is one thing I heard, it is this: it is time to move forward. Moving forward doesn’t mean abandoning our values, but it does mean letting go of the thinking that we have to go back in time to something for things to be better. Let’s make things better now.

When I was a therapist working with children, I often used an illustration about making cookies. As anyone who knows me will attest to, I am not a cook, nor a baker. In my life I have burned more cookies than I can count. My cookies also tend to stick to the pan, resulting in more crumbs than cookies. I gave up crying about crumbly cookies long ago because I learned that cookie crumbs are valuable, too. Cookie crumbles go good on ice cream or in oatmeal. They are not something to be wasted, they are to be used and celebrated. Life offers us many opportunities to look for creative solutions and possibilities within situations. I can see oodles of applications of this to our situation today.

One of the things I have found to be critical in my life of faith and in my life as a responsible citizen, is personal accountability. This political climate and situation isn’t an ‘us vs. them’ problem. We all need to be accountable and responsible. We need to be sure that our horizontal relationship with God is right and then work for the same in our vertical relationships with one another. Freedom and democracy didn’t die, but I sure wish animosity would. I wish self-promotion would. Those are the things that are choking out what is good, and true, and Godly.

So how will we respond? Will we whine and put bumper stickers on our cars that inform others we didn’t vote for this leadership and we don’t intend to work with it either? If so, I’m pretty sure it will not be honoring to God or impactful on a world in desperate need of a Savior. Or will we choose to work towards unity? Will we speak up for those who have no voice? Will we endeavor in our words and our actions to do nothing that is not honoring to God? Will learn to agree to disagree without being disagreeable? Will we seek to move forward without beating others over the head with how things used to be and make something good and right out of what we have now?

The balloting may be over, but there are still plenty of choices to be made.

Day 8: Thankyouverymuch

Funny thing happened on the way to the blog post…I sat at my computer, hands on keyboard, fingers primed to type out my thoughts, and…I suddenly was overwhemed with gratitude. The very thought of pick one thing to be thankful for this morning seemed utterly absurd. There was litterally a flood of things that came to mind. So just awash in the awareness of how blessed my life is. And to top it off…I was awakened over an hour early by the dogs needing an emergency potty run. That might have set the course of my day into a downward spiral, but instead I have been most productive: in housework, administrative necessities, and writing. I’m really quite into it and don’t want to stop, but I have an appointment to get my teeth cleaned (another not favorite thing in my life, and yet I find myself grateful even for this).

Here are a pics that make me smile…just things that came to mind this morning…things I am thankful for:

And with that, I’m off to the dentist and to get my replacement driver’s lisence. TTFN

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