gratitude ...

I've sorta made it a tradition here at like the seasons this time of year to recap the things for which I am most grateful. Some things on this list will be repeats from years past but that's just because my gratitude for them never seems to run dry. Here it is, in no particular order ...

• Seasons, both literal and metaphorical.
• A 2 year old reverse brindle boxer named Sophie.
• Light and truth.
• Beautiful vulnerability and transparency.
• Sabbath.
• Stories.
• Shelter in the form of a house that I share with my dog, my roommate and her 2 cats.
• Little, seemingly insignificant moments that later you look back on and realize they had a bigger impact on your life than you would have thought.
• The way color spills across earth and sky early in the day and late in the evening.
• Redemption, both the word (such a beautiful word) and its meaning.
• That I believe in a God who is infinitely bigger and richer than any economic crisis and that my future is in his very capable hands, and not the hands of any finite, fallible human.
• Language.
• Forgiveness, mercy and grace.
• Hammocks.
• Perfect autumn days when you not only see the reds and oranges and golds and browns but you feel the colors of autumn inside you.
• The definition of music: an art of sound in time that expresses ideas and emotions in significant forms through the elements of rhythm, melody, harmony, and color.
• Gorgeous lyrics.
• Flintstones vitamins (yes, I take one a day).
• W. B. Yeats and Henry David Thoreau.
• Annie Dillard, Anne Lamott and Donald Miller.
• Frederick Buechner, C.S. Lewis and A. W. Tozer.
• Contented sighs.
• Gretchen, Audra, Karen, Molly - my small group - and for God placing them in my path.
• The courage to ask for what I want, even when the result isn't what I hoped it would be.
• Provision and protection.
• Love. Simple. Pure. Unabashed.
• Employment.
• Kept promises and that my faith is in a God who always keeps his promises, without fail.
• Landscapes, both of the earth and of the heart.
• The beaty of this sudden realization of how similar the words earth and heart are in spelling and in meaning: both contain soil and with the right light and nourishment, both can produce lush gardens or remain barren.
• Metaphors, grammar, and words.
• Books.
• Meals shared with loved ones.
• True intimacy.
• Gatherings, planned and impromptu.
• Relationships of all kinds.
• The ability to share in and witness each other's lives.
• The fluttery feeling of new love.
• Justice.
• Knowledge, the capacity to expand my awareness through learning.
• Church, the way it was meant to be, as originally described in Acts. Not the building, but the people, the concept, the verb of "being the church."
• The beauty of simplicity.
• Long drives in the country on blue-sky days.
• The world's oldest museum and art gallery: Nature.
• How lavishly I am loved by an incredibly indulgent God.
• Leadership and authority and learning what it looks like to submit the way God intended.
• Christmas: in it's pure form, not the commercialized greed-fest it is today.
• Healing.
• Little bits of wisdom like: Go forward into your past, with your present, so that you can move into the future.
• Missing people, because it means you have people to miss.

I know I could add to this list and sit here for hours, or forever, thinking of things for which I am grateful. But alas, I have other things to do and other people to see. And I am thankful for that as well. Blessings and shalom to you this holiday season!