a reforming state of mind

I am thankful this March for:

* Elizabeth  who is at 26 weeks in her pregancy and continues to be healthy

* Spring forward next weekend and knowing that warmer weather is on its way

* The church’s youth and youth leaders and the meaningful worship servie the MSYG led on the Third Sunday of Lent

* Jesus For President by Shane Claiborne

* A good friend who told me wisley that sometimes you just have to “LGOTS”

* Planning a Middle School Youth Mission Trip with good friends and colleagues

*  Playing fetch with Harper

*  BBQ

* The humor of Will Ferell, Lewis Black, Eddie Izzard and Bill Cosby

* The Steve Harvey Morning Show keeping it real

* The anticipation of seeing a childhood hero “Indiana Jones” return to the screen

* My father-in-law’s blog “Middle Aged Southerner”

* My wife’s blog “I Had A Thought;” It’s good to see her writing again. She is a gifted writer and humorist

*  The music of David Lamotte, Eddie Vedder’s “Into the Wild,” Janis Ian’s “Folk Is the New Black,” and Sheryl Crow’s “Detours”

* The Christian Peace Witness movement coming to D.C. Thursday-Monday and the Faith-based Peace & Justice Coffeehouse at New York Avenue Presbyterian Church.

* This Lenten time of reflection

* Outrageous Oatmean Ice Cream from the Hershey’s Ice Cream Shop

* Samoa Girl Scout Cookies

* LOST and Eli Stone

* Reading

This month I’m thankful for:

* Oatmeal scotchies that my mother-in-law and wife lovingly made for me

* My wife and the baby inside her that is the size of a pound of coffee (fair trade kind of course)

* A youth who wrote a beautiful essay on believing in God

* Members of the church who shared their views of God’s hope in the world for a recent sermon

* Playing “Jetman” and “Scrabbulous” with friends and church members on Facebook

* Laughing till my side hurts playing MAD GAB with the High School Youth Group

* Brian McLaren’s book “Everything Must Change”

* Harper and Dylan who cuddle up together at the foot of the bed; Harper who also rubs her face on my shoe as I’m tying the laces; Dylan who also crawls into the covers to spoon with my wife because he loves her and wants to protect her.

* Being alive

* Bloggers, sojourners and preachers like Wee Blather, Middle Aged Southerner, Church For Starving Artists, The Human Animal, Yestertime and Pomomusings who inspire me with their heartfelt words about God, faith, the Bible, hope, despair, kingdom-living, love, childhood, and family.

* “Business Time” by Flight of the Conchords

* Lent–a time for reflection on how often we are faithless when God is always faithful

* Jesus’ words to Pilate in John 18:36–”My kingdom is not from this world. If my kingdom were from this world, my followers would be fighting to keep me from being handed over to the Jews (religious authorities). But as it is, my kingdom is not from here.”

* My father-in-law soon to be “Pops” is cancer-free

* A church member is done with cancer treatments and is regaining her smile and energy again

* A co-worker who is about to bring a beautiful child into the world

*  The staff at the church

* A member in her 70s who told her granddaughter who is in the High School Youth Group that “I rocked” when I preached my sermon on hope.

* the courageous lives of Harriet Tubman, Rosa Parks, Martin Luther King Jr., Thurgood Marshall, Mohommaded Ali and Jackie Robinson

* The Daily Show and The Colbert Reports, subversive court jesters and fools mocking the kings and queens in their courts

* My grandparents, particularly my grandmother who is now a member of the Ladies’ Red Hat Society

* God’s grace

* Oreo ice cream

 One of my favorite websites and organizations is “Cool People Care: Saving the World, Five Minutes at a Time.”  (www.coolpeoplecare.org) Cool People Care truly live out what they say by daily offering ways that all of us can become agents of change in a matter of minutes.  As they say on their website, “CoolPeopleCare exists to show you how to change the world in whatever time you have. One minute? Five minutes? An entire day? Whatever you have, we’ll help you spend it wisely.”

Today’s post from Cool People, of course, focuses on Thanksgiving and suggests that it’s possible to be thankful not just today but the entire year.  They recommend that we can simply start by listing in five minutes all of the things we’re thankful for and then “when time’s up, keep going. In fact, do this activity once a month. If people appear on your list, call or write and thank them. Share your list with others and challenge the world to appreciate life, and never take too much for granted.”  http://www.coolpeoplecare.org/article/2006/11/23/be-thankful/

A few minutes before getting out of bed this morning, Elizabeth and I took five minutes to cuddle up and share the things in our life that we’re thankful for.

I took an additional five minutes, on the suggestion of Cool People Care, to write them down again for this blog post. I actually stopped after 5 minutes because I’m helping Elizabeth make cornbread dressing (another food and activity with my wife that makes me thankful

I’m also going to make an effort to spend 5 minutes or more every month to write a “thankful” list. I’ll keep you posted on how it works out.

Here’s what I’m thankful for today and in this month of November:

* my wife Elizabeth

* Jack

* Harper and Dylan

* Our families

* Our friends

* The congregation at Colesville & Rockville Presbyterian Churches

* Both church’s youth

* Laura and Fred Holbrook and Massanetta Springs Conference Center in Harrisonburg, VA

* Montreat Conference Center in Montreat, NC

* Ed Williams, a good friend and mentor from my college days as a journalism student at Auburn University

* Good health

* Laughter

* Coffee

* A warm fire

* A good book

* An animal that lies at your feet or on your chest

* Naps

* Snow during the holidays

* white cheese dip from a Mexican restaurant

That’s all for now. Happy Thanksgiving to you and yours.

Elizabeth and I are in Cleveland, OH visiting Elizabeth’s dad Rick; his wife Deidre;  their dogs Watson, a chocolate lab, and Sherlock, a yellow lab; their orange spotted cat Boudreaux; and the newest addition–a baby kitten named Squawky. He’s the cutest ugly cat you’ve ever seen.

He’s a tiny, scrawny guy with black fur, big pointy ears, pink paw pads and a spot of white around his mouth that makes him look like a clown or a cross-dresser.  And Squawky’s left eyebrow has a curl on the end where he singed it on a flame from the fireplace.  The little pipsqueak earned the name Squawky because his meows sound like bird squawks. 

His original name was Lope, short for Interloper. Deidre discovered him sitting in a highway median a few weeks ago and brought the scared and homeless kitten home with her.  Being a kitten, Lope/Squawky unnerved the other animals. Sherlock, who is the biggest dog to ever be scared of anything smaller than him, stopped eating for a couple of days.

They’re all getting along pretty well now, and it’s pretty funny to see Squawky play with one of the dogs’ tails while they’re laying in front of the fireplace.

Squawky is a sweet kitten as are all of Rick and Deidre’s animals. Squawky has taken a special liking to Elizabeth, and often crawls up to rest under her chin. 

The past two days have been very relaxing and fun. We’ve mostly been eating, sleeping and talking while lying lazily in the den. Recently Elizabeth has gotten us all hooked on these challenging word puzzles on NPR’s Weekend Edition Puzzle (www.npr.org/puzzle)

This is the fourth Thanksgiving we’ve spent at Elizabeth’s dad’s house since Elizabeth and I began dating in 2002.  It’s been a nice tradition and I hope it doesn’t end anytime soon.  Rick is fighting merckle cell cancer and there is a fear that this might be the last or one of the last Thanksgivings with my father-in-law.  Although it’s all on our minds in one form or another no one is saying it out loud.  Don’t really need to name the obvious.

And what’s the point in focusing on the negative or what may or may not occur. Just have to take things one day at a time, enjoy life in the moment. That’s been Rick’s attitude about his situation. His strength and courage is inspiring and I pray that he will win his battle. At 57, there’s too much left for him to do. http://middleagedsoutherner.blogspot.com/

Despite being tired from the daily radiation treatments he receives, Rick is in pretty good spirits. His humor and wisdom is sharp as always and I enjoy trading interesting facts, telling goofy and sometimes lurid jokes, and discussing movies, books and sports.

It’s also been good to get to know Deidre more and more. She’s a wonderful person and a great cook. Very competitive when it comes to word games and puzzles. She kicked my butt playing the Scrabblesque board game UpWords.

There is much to be thankful for in this holiday week with Elizabeth and her family. I hope my eyes, heart, mind and soul will be open to every bit that God fills it with.