Skip to main content

Thanksgiving

Thursday, 27 November, was Thanksgiving. I had two friends over to my house, plus my husband and I. It was the year of the slow-cooking turkey. We discovered our oven was about 50 degrees off, so the turkey took about 5 hours to cook. We ended up eating all the side dishes and then playing a game and then having turkey and dessert. It was good time.

In place of my usual Friday Five, I'm making a list of things that I am thankful for this year. It's not a definitive list, but a list of the top things for which I feel extremely grateful.

1. I'm grateful for my husband, Rob. He's such an amazing person, caring, smart and fun to be with all the time. This year is our first whole year together ever. Between school and Iraq, we've spent a lot of time apart, but we've finished 12 consecutive months (what would be the first months together in our marriage). There were some adjustments, but I'm so glad to have him in my life and I'm grateful for every day we have together.

2. I'm thankful for my ordination and my work. This year marked the culmination of all my theological training and I could still be waiting to see what would happen next. But due to the work of the Holy Spirit, a sensitive bishop and a church in need, I was called to the Lutheran Church of Hope. Once you have a call (in the ELCA), then you can be ordained. In a way, it was like getting married all over... but I'm very grateful for the chance LCOH took on me and for all that I am learning here. I enjoy my work in so many different ways and I am grateful, continually, for the privilege of what I do.

3. I'm grateful for my friends, Gloria, gena, Sonia, Rebecca... Their enthusiasm and laughter keeps me going. We share so much and even though we don't see each other as much as we would like... we do have good times.

4. I'm grateful for Ivan, my dog. He's a mess, but his smiling eyes, his waggy otter tail, his "crazies" and his snuggles are the closest thing to sheer grace in my life. Even if I have to leave him in the spare bedroom while I go to work, there is instantaneous forgiveness when I come home. Thanks be to God for dogs (and other pets).

5. I'm thankful for good health. I am able to use all my limb and I feel well most of the time. I had a pinched nerve in my back this year and it gave me a tiny glimpse of what constant pain must be like. I'm healed now and I am grateful, daily, for all that I can enjoy because of wellness.

There are so many more things... but suffice it to say.... I'm thankful!

Comments

Anonymous said…
Please see my blog for prayer requests for ELCA missionaries in Nigeria. Thanks.

Popular posts from this blog

I'm In

A few weeks ago ,  I was using voice-to-text to compose some prayers. After I was finished speaking the whole list, I was proof-reading the document and   realized that everywhere I said “Amen”, the voice-to-text wrote “I’m in”. “Amen” essentially means  “may it be so”,  but what would it look like to end our prayers with “I’m in”. What would change if we rose from our knees, left our prayer closets, closed our devotionals, and moved with purpose toward the goals for which we had just prayed.  Lord, in your mercy:  Grant justice to the oppressed and disenfranchised (I’m in) Cast down the mighty from their thrones (I’m in)  Console the grieving and welcome the prodigal (I’m in)  Welcome strangers and attend to the marginalized (I’m in)  Grant the space for the silenced to speak… and listen (I’m in)  Fill the hungry with good things and send the rich away empty (I’m in)  Forgive others as I am forgiven (I’m in) Be merciful as God in h...

Top Ten Things to Learn from the book of Job

Readings: Job 1:1-22; Job 38:1-11; Luke 8: 22-25 10. Job contradicts Proverbs.   The writer of Proverbs offers the hope and consolation that people who live wisely and faithfully, according to the will of God, will flourish and prosper. The very first chapter of Job says: it ain’t necessarily so. You may well live righteously and with great integrity and, still, terrible things may happen. A faithful life is not an automatic buffer to calamity. Due to this contradiction between the books, both of which are categorized as wisdom literature, we are reminded of all those who have gone before us who tried to make the Bible speak with one voice. It doesn’t. The Bible has many voices, some of which are quite dissonant together, but they sing one song about the presence and providence of God.  9. Job is an old story, but a young book, relatively speaking. Since Job doesn’t mention Abraham or Moses or the laws or the Temple, some interpreters have considered it the oldest story ...

While to That Rock I'm Clinging (Epiphany 2025)

I recently read a book that contained this line, “God can only be drilled out of us, not into us. I can see that now, from a distance.” God can only be drilled out of us, not into us. The author was discussing the griefs and losses of her life, but also her awareness of the larger scope of the movement and power that carries us all, even in the difficult seasons. You do not survive these seasons by thinking there is no God unless the idea of a God who cares, who is slow to anger, who is abounding in steadfast love has been drilled out of you.   How does the idea of God get “drilled out of a person”? In today’s scripture passages, we have an example of people who have held on to the majesty and mystery of God, even in times of trouble. Then we also have a person whose awareness of the Divine has been drilled out by a desire to retain power and worldly influence.  The magi or wise men were probably Persian astrologers or maybe Zoroastrian priests from the same region, modern-day...