With Happy Thanks for Dorothy

George and Dorothy, many years ago

A dear old friend of ours, Dorothy Waterhouse Smoker, passed away in January and I'd like to honor her memory here.  Dorothy was 97 when she passed and I hadn't seen her in many, many years.  Still, my memories of her are close and vital.

Unexpected Gifts

Looking across the farm to the National Forest.

Some gifts come as a complete surprise... Being asked if we'd like to rent a house on a farm, for instance.  "Yes. Yes, please."  So we've moved about 30 minutes out of town.  We wake up every morning and can't believe we're still here :)  "Oh!  It wasn't a dream!"

This is a gift we'll embrace for as long as we have the opportunity allows.  Our work carries on.  Byron is busier than ever.  But we begin and close each day with a sense of awe.  There's refreshment every  morning and gratefulness every night.

This view greets us daily.  Totally nuts, I know.

My walks include lots of pausing to notice :)

These are scattered around instead of urban rubbish.

"Thankful" doesn't even begin to describe it.

Coffee and Jacarandas :)

I'm still a little too stunned to find good words.  Sometimes gratitude quiets us.  But words will come.  (I'm sure of it.)  For now, know we are smiling.

The Gift of Writing

We're in Seattle this week and last night I had the opportunity to attend a gathering of writers. I don't think I've ever been to a writers' thing before so this was a fun new experience for me as about 150 writers spent the evening talking, sharing, learning and being inspired together.

I was particularly impressed by the main speaker, Jodi Detrick, who is one of five folks who contribute to the Faith and Values column of the Seattle Times. Her perspective was fresh and insightful and it made me happy.

As a guest, I mostly just listened all evening and here's one thing I realized...

I have SO MUCH to be thankful for in the story of how my book, Approaching God, came to be!! Oh my goodness!!

It was humbling to hear these gifted writers talking about how difficult it is to get someone to look at a manuscript and yet I had the extremely odd experience of having an editor ask me to submit a proposal and first chapter. It's crazy!

This morning I am keenly aware that the opportunity to write Approaching God was a direct, intimate and very generous gift to this bumbling little writer.

Thank you, Monarch. And thank you, Lord.

Puppy Love and Good Gifts

New puppies are the best! This little guy was a surprise arrival on Saturday when friends called to say they'd decided they couldn't take the pup they had booked and wondered if we wanted him. He was ready to come home that very day. We were more than happy to rearrange our afternoon, not to mention our lives, for him.

New Pup (short legged Jack Russell Terrier) is still nameless, though we're fond of Tremper Shortman, in honor of Westmont's legendary Old Testament professor, Tremper Longman. It's a compliment in every way as we adore our dogs and Dr. Longman is also well loved. In the mean time, we'll just keep calling him Puppy. Right now Puppy is sleeping on my empty suede boots under the desk.

Speaking of names, we used to have 2 Jack Russells named Harvey and Bristol. Also had one named C. Pete and another named Zero.

I was pondering a list of lovely things that have happened lately, Puppy's arrival being the culmination of them. I was thinking about how each thing was a gift from God and I was feeling very thankful. Quite distinctly I heard God's response: "Well, you know I speak your love language."

Very well, apparently! :-)

The Spiritual Practice of Giving Thanks

When you think about it, saying "Thank you," is one of the first manners we encourage small children to adopt. This simple practice of remembering to thank the people around us is so basic to positive human interactions that, when absent, it is a glaring rudeness that paints the withholding party as arrogant.

Somewhere along the line, then, we've learned that gratitude for services rendered or a job well done is an appropriate and meaningful human to human response in life.

But what about thankfulness as a spiritual practice and a way of life?

In Psalm 50, the poet is speaking for God when he says--

"I don't need bulls from your farms or goats from your herds.
All the animals in the forest are mine and the cattle on thousands of hills. All the wild birds are mine and all living things
in the land... Let the GIVING OF THANKS be your sacrifice to God..."

Thanksgiving as a sacrifice... What a thought.

But actually, as I pondered it, I realized there have been plenty of times in my life when the spiritual practice of giving thanks functioned as a sacrifice. Let's consider being evacuated from home when bandits were too close, too bold and too many. Then there were days of trauma when a teammate was sexually assaulted and our team gathered in guest houses in the capital to work through how to deal with the issue over the vast cultural divides between U.S. nationals, Kenyan officials and Maasai elders. Those were crummy times and I won't bore any of us with a litany of more of the same.

On those nights, as we huddled in safe places away from home, I found that I could only muster wee prayers that said things like, "Thank you for this pillow tonight."

And feeble as it was, my thanksgiving was a sacrifice and, as such, it pleased the heart of God.

Some days, thanks is a discipline that doesn't feel like one. It's an overflow of gratitude that wells up naturally. Other days it's a rendering, a beating down of the grief or struggle to bring out what is good. And there's something about the costliness of the practice on those days that makes it, for lack of a better word, sweet.

But, whether it be an overflow of easy thanks, or a wrestling to not go under, giving thanks is always a blessing.

I'm pretty certain every country should set aside a day to practice it :-)

Behold, I am Thankful...

1. That this morning broke out with a blue sky after a very wet weekend

2. That the lost Fed-Ex delivery man did eventually find Colin, who had gone out on a search and rescue mission for him, and we now have Byron's airline tickets firmly in hand

3. That even though my cupboards are bare, I have cash in my pocket and can go shopping shortly

4. That it is now officially less than one month till Trevor gets here and only slightly longer than a month till Jesse gets here (!)

5. That Samson, the puppy, is perhaps the cutest puppy in the world and that he lives at our house

6. That Heather and Colin have been arguing less and laughing together more

7. That my skype phone call with my sister was quite clear on Sunday morning

8. That we have the joy and challenge of living in Africa again

9. That when the sun goes down I know that there is a roof over my head and a nice bed I can climb into

And finally,

10. I am very thankful for my mom, Carolyn, who has for all these years that we have lived overseas worked hundreds and hundreds of ours on our behalf doing every thankless job you can imagine from calling the VISA company for us to reminding us of bills coming due, being our highly skilled Personal Shopper, ordering supplies for us, booking airline tickets for us,taking care of our college kids for us,and basically keeping us in line, on task and out of debt! The lady is a wonder and I challenge you to find better deals than she comes up with. Honestly, we would be in really bad shape without her. I am more thankful for her than I can express.

What are you thankful for?

(PS I posted today on my Conversant Life blog about my need to forgive.)

Parents that Bless

This morning I'm thinking about how grateful I am for our parents who send us off to far places with their love.

It can't be easy to have us wandering the globe these last twenty-something years. But they grace us with their support, encouragement and blessings.

We pull up stakes and pack up the grandkids and follow what we believe to the be the road opening before us. And they wave us off with hugs and prayers, telling us in many ways that they believe we're doing the right thing.

Maybe it was easier when we were younger and they were younger. Maybe not. Either way, I am so deeply thankful for the blessing of their affirmation.

To Byron's dad in Florida, and his Mama there who would bless us if her mind was clear but can't, and to my folks in California: thank you for cheering us on and covering us in prayer. Your blessing brings peace, a sense of Shalom, in our lives.