Day #12 - "For Thorns . . . "

"Thanks for roses by the wayside.
Thanks for thorns their stems contain."

Some years ago, I came across a wonderful hymn that is just FULL of "comparative text".  It seems like it is full of dichotomies.  The format consists of pairs of opposites and the phrase, "Thanks to God for . . . "

The caption under the photo above is one such pair . . . it has occupied my attention in a powerful way for several days in early November . . . I am using my "Day 12" thankfulness post to affirm:

"Thanks for thorns . . . "  

However weird that seems, I am, indeed, truly thankful for the "thorns" in my life.  There have been plenty of them along the way, and I have spent my "time in hell on earth" many times over, but the end of the story is that I am thankful, not only for roses, but for their thorns . . . for the negatives in life as well as the positives.  I AM who I am by the grace of God and because of every experience I've had thus far.  

Is it easy to remain "thankful" for everything that comes?  No, it's not easy, but it's not written anywhere that life is supposed to be "easy".  Is it always comfortable? Does it always tickle? Does everything have a clear purpose?  No . . . it's very painful at times and not at all comfortable to wander through the brambles and thorns.  It certainly doesn't tickle and make me laugh, and sometimes I cannot see the purpose in a given event no matter HOW hard I try!!!   I CAN say, however, that from a distance - such as is afforded by looking back (hindsight) - things come into perspective and that which felt like the end of the world is actually another part of the "big picture".  

I could give you examples all afternoon, and if you want some, just talk to me  :)   I'm dealing right now in "bottom lines", and MY bottom line is that I can see the good in everything if I look long enough.  One of my favorite scripture verses is found in Romans 8:28 - "All things work together for good to those who love the Lord and are called according to His purpose." 

It does not in ANY way mean that "All things are good" . . . they aren't.  It DOES mean that the greatest imaginable "bad" can eventually bring about the greatest imaginable "GOOD".  It may take a while, and the journey may be painful, but it IS possible to learn to smell the roses without getting pierced by their thorns.  

The only example I'm going to give right now in this particular writing is, again, related to my having been surrendered at birth for adoption, and my subsequent TWO adoptions - the early death of my first adoptive parents and my "difficult" childhood and teenage years in my Aunt and Uncle's care and keeping and eventual adoption.  I felt "weird" and "damaged" and "unworthy" most of my life.  I felt responsible for all of the bad things that happened to me throughout my life.  

My second adoptive parents often told me, "We don't know what's wrong with you. We love you as if you were our real child."   One day it HIT me - - - I felt "as if" and "not real" for all of my early years.  I had to attain the ripe old age of 47 years old before I understood that I am "not" an "as if" person, and I was not a mistake, and I do have some value and worth in this world as I journey through it.  Do I slip back into that "other" mode?  Sure I do.  I can go to the dark place much more easily than I wish were the case.  Do I continue to try to "prove" to somebody that I AM worth something?  Sure I do - I try to prove it to myself all the time.  The difference is I am no longer WILLING to stay in the dark place or to allow the dark to overcome the Light that is in my life.  

The Apostle Paul is said to have endured a "thorn in the flesh" that he prayed to depart from him on an almost constant basis.  It was painful, and it hurt him.  It stopped him in his tracks at time. It made it difficult to accomplish what he wanted to accomplish, and yet he was able to proclaim, "I have learned whatsoever state I am in, therein to be content."  That's one powerful testimony, and it gives me courage.  I would come to the end of my journey on earth with those words on my lips and in my heart.  

I am "me" because I have faced, endured, and won the battle with those things that would bring me down, and I am thankful . . . for all of it. 

___________________________________________________ 

Thanks to God for my Redeemer,
Thanks for all Thou dost provide!
Thanks for times now but a memory,
Thanks for Jesus by my side!
Thanks for pleasant, balmy springtime,
Thanks for dark and stormy fall!
Thanks for tears by now forgotten,
Thanks for peace within my soul.

Thanks for prayers that Thou hast answered,
Thanks for what Thou dost deny!
Thanks for storms that I have weathered,
Thanks for all Thou dost supply!
Thanks for pain and thanks for pleasure,
Thanks for comfort in despair!
Thanks for grace that none can measure,
Thanks for love beyond compare!

Thanks for roses by the wayside,
Thanks for thorns their stems contain!
Thanks for home and thanks for fireside,
Thanks for hope, that sweet refrain!
Thanks for joy and thanks for sorrow,
Thanks for heavenly peace with Thee!
Thanks for hope in the tomorrow,
Thanks through all eternity!

~Amen~

For All The Saints . . .

For All The Saints . . . Alleluia!!

Today is "All Saints Day", and I am reminded of all of those in my own life who have lived and loved and gone on to their eternal rest.  I have a long and extensive history with loss beginning almost at the moment I was born, and yet, when I consider the whole that is my life, I know beyond any shadow of a doubt, that I have been, and continue to be, blessed beyond measure!  I couldn't, if I had to, choose to eliminate any of my experiences, because they have made me who I am.  

I begin my 30 days of expressions of my thankfulness by acknowledging the roles that various people have held in my life as well as those who are still in my life today.  I will move beyond the remembrances tomorrow, but for today,  it is well to remember and be especially thankful!

These special Saints in my life include my biological parents - Dorothy Berenice Davis and Julius Vincent Pierotti.  I never knew either of them personally, but I know ABOUT them, thanks to my Mother's Sister and her family, and my mother's brother and his family, as well as my cousins from my mother's siblings. What an amazing blessing it is to have ongoing relationships with Bill and Tina and Pat and Mary Ellen and Russell and Georgianne and some of their spouses and children and grandchildren.  

Had I been accepted as part of the family from the beginning,  there would have been eleven of us first cousins . . . can you even imagine holiday get-togethers?!  Thanks so much to ALL of you who have included me in your lives as adults, and for all you have taught me about my mother! 

The circle includes also my adopted families - Mary Claire and Tom Sanders and Ethel and Baron Roberts - my adopted sister, Kathryn Brannan, my adoptive Grandparents, Vera Claire and Clanton Shipp, Sr. and Georgia Roberts and Rosalie Sanders and all their children - my aunts and uncles in my two adoptive families.  They were very accepting of my adopted status and contributed much

throughout their lives and mine. 

I remember and am most grateful for the wonderful woman who was, at first, my Caseworker through the Adoption Agency and later my friend - we always had lunch together at the downtown Atlanta Rich's Magnolia Tea Room, nearest my birthday.  She gave me my first doll, which I promptly named Tucker after her.  She came to my "rescue" as a teenager plagued with self-doubt about myself and my "background" after a high school teacher called adoption a "Social Ill". 

I remember her at my wedding, and I remember taking our newborn daughter, Dorothy, to the retirement home she was living in. I wanted Dorothy and Miss Tucker to meet!  

My adopted Granny's birthday was November 10th, and she was one of 

my best friends throughout my life, and she always made me feel loved (yes, even when she was angry with me) as we lived out our lives together, and as both of her daughters were my adoptive mothers.  She died in 1986 just before she would turn 95 and just before I turned 40.  Not many people are blessed with a loving Grandmother for so long into their adult lives.  She would be 122 this year, and I still miss her every day.  I will have lots more to say about her on her day.  

These are just a few of those who have preceded me in death - - - the Saints in my life - - - for whom I am eternally grateful and of whom my memories and love never cease to flow.  

It is an awesome thing to sit and remember that even a small change in the events of my life would have resulted in my never coming to the place in life where I now reside . . . my husband, my daughter,  my best friends, my church, my Hilltop Home, my choices of pets over the years, my music education, my love of photography . . . so many things.  Every time I am tempted to think "Oh Woe is Me",  I stop and remember that "ME" is anything but "woeful".   When I 

remember, I am thankful all over again.  

I think that's enough for right now . . . I'll be back tomorrow . . . 

"For all the saints, who from their labors rest, who Thee, by faith before the world confessed. Thy Name, O Jesus, be forever blessed. Alleluia" 

Attitudes of Gratitude - # 6 - November 6th, 2012

It's Hard to Be an Eagle . . . 

. . . when you're surrounded by turkeys!

What a day!  One thing after another went wrong.  I won't go into detail now, but I was left thinking about how hard it is to be thankful for some of the "turkeys" that appear in my life, and how much harder than that it is to express gratitude in the middle of frustration and "falling shoes".  

I come away from November 6th thankful, mostly, that every day is not like it was.  I wish I was more where the Apostle Paul said we should strive to be . . . 

"I have learned in whatsoever state I am, therewith to be content."  
Philippians 4:11   

Attitudes of Gratitude - # 3 - November 3, 2012 - Priorities

 Nothing I do in my life is more important than "giving thanks" to God for all the blessings that "hallow my days" - for all I have as well as for some things I don't have; for those I love and for those who love me; for my beautiful new home and for my church;  for the opportunity to stand with Terry and serve ten appointments in the United Methodist ministry in North Georgia; for my marriage of thirty-seven years, for our daughter and her new husband and step-daughters; for my friends;  for my love of nature and eyes to see it. . . for just everything. As I've said previously, I'm a huge believer in "Thanksliving" as a means of giving thanks!  

Every year for the last few years, I have started the month of November with a VOW to myself to express one thing each day for which I am particularly thankful at THAT moment in time, and every year it  has been my pathetic custom to over-commit myself to "projects", to give in to the nudge of "volunteer-itis", to fail to recognize my limitations, old and new, and just generally to fail to do that which I ought to do and to do that which I ought NOT to do. Most especially, I am irked with myself for failing to honor my OWN pronouncement that said, "THIS year, I WILL express the gratitude I feel for family, friends, home, nature, etc."

As I approach this "labor of love" this year, I am acutely aware of the need to at least "begin", even if circumstances beyond my control make it difficult - even impossible - to continue with consistency every day.  As major health problems loom before me, and I face some life-threatening issues,  I know only too well, that we do not pass this way in our lives but once, and that the moments must be lived or lost to us.  So, I may not succeed in keeping that commitment to myself  THIS year either , but part of understanding my shortcomings and doing "something" about things I "can" change even in the midst of so many things I can't change, I'm posting the words to one of my favorite Thanksgiving hymns, written in the late 1800s by August Storm . . . "Thanks to God for My Redeemer ".

The words say - better than I can -  what I believe and feel and they express what  *I* hope I will live in the coming days.  The hymn affirms just what I feel when I think of "thankful" - - - including the good, the bad, the ugly and the in-between times of my life.

1. Thanks to God for my Redeemer,
Thanks for all Thou dost provide!
Thanks for times now but a mem’ry,
Thanks for Jesus by my side!
Thanks for pleasant, balmy springtime,
Thanks for dark and stormy fall!
Thanks for tears by now forgotten,
Thanks for peace within my soul!

2. Thanks for prayers that Thou hast answered,
Thanks for what Thou dost deny!
Thanks for storms that I have weathered,
Thanks for all Thou dost supply!
Thanks for pain, and thanks for pleasure,
Thanks for comfort in despair!
Thanks for grace that none can measure,
Thanks for love beyond compare!

3. Thanks for roses by the wayside,
Thanks for thorns their stems contain!
Thanks for home and thanks for fireside,
Thanks for hope, that sweet refrain!
Thanks for joy and thanks for sorrow,
Thanks for heav’nly peace with Thee!
Thanks for hope in the tomorrow,
Thanks through all eternity!

I wish for any of YOU who might come across this and read it a month of giving thanks that leads you into a lifetime of the same.  I wish for YOU a wonderful sense of contentment in whatever state your find yourself in . . . in short - a time of "thanksliving".

Attitudes of Gratitude - # 1 - November 1st 2012

Attitudes of Gratitude - November 1st, 2012

It's that time of year - the time when I try to acknowledge my thankfulness and gratitude for all of my life by posting one thing a day that I'm grateful for. I usually do it in the form of updating my blog, but I didn't get it done today due to some unforseen "busy work" I had to do. 

So, for today, let me begin this Thanksgiving Season by saying simply that I am grateful for ALL life brings to me, good, bad and indifferent, and thankful to be a person of faith and to have such good friends and family all around me during what is proving to be one of the most difficult times in my life. 

"I will lift up my eyes to the hills—

From whence comes my help?

2 My help comes from the Lord,

Who made heaven and earth.

3 He will not allow your foot to be moved;

He who keeps you will not slumber.

4 Behold, He who keeps Israel

Shall neither slumber nor sleep.

5 The Lord is your keeper;

The Lord is your shade at your right hand.

6 The sun shall not strike you by day,

Nor the moon by night.

7 The Lord shall preserve you from all evil;

He shall preserve your soul.

8 The Lord shall preserve your going out and your coming in

From this time forth, and even forevermore."

Psalm 121

Attitudes of Gratitude - #2 - November 2nd 2012 - "Let All Things Now Living ,. . . "

Here we are - November again and the beginning of my own concentration  on Gratitude and Thankfulness.  As I have in the last few years,  I intend to make a post in my blog here each day leading up to the designated "Thanksgiving Day", and then move to posts centered around the Seasons of Christmas - Advent, Christmas and Epiphany.

I will most likely repeat a post from years past every once in a while, particularly those that lead my heart and mind deeper into thoughts of giving thanks and living thanks.   I tend to "think" in hymn texts much of the time, so expect a lot of references to the Psalms and to hymn texts that center around the theme of "Thanksgiving".  

Having just mentioned "Thanksliving" I have picked my subject for today and, as predicted, it centers around a hymn "Let All Things Now Living"

Let all things now living a song of thanksgiving

To God their Creator triumphantly raise.

Who fashioned and made us, protected and stayed us, 

Who guideth us on to the end of our days. 

His banners are o'er us,  His light goes before us, 

A pillar of fire shining forth through the night,

Till shadows have vanished and darkness is banished, 

As forward we travel from light into light. 

His law He enforces, the stars in their courses, 

The sun in its orbit obediently shines. 

The hills and the mountains,  the rivers and fountains, 

The depths of the ocean proclaim Him divine. 

We, too, should be voicing our love and rejoicing, 

With glad adoration a song let us raise, 

Till all things now living unite in thanksgiving, 

To God in the highest, "Hosanna" and "Praise"! 

Lyrics in Public Domain - Katherine K. Davis

So what does this beautiful song of "Thanksgiving" and "Thanksliving" say to me?   It reminds me that a life lived with gratitude for whatever life sends my way (thanks-living) is a means of giving thanks   . . .  It is a way of understanding what it means to  "Pray without ceasing!"  (1 Thess 5:17 )  Rather than being an instruction to be literally on our knees in prayer twenty-four hours a day,  I think it means we are to think on the things of God . . . the blessings we receive from him, even the greatest blessing of all - life itself . . . and to give thanks.  In the giving of thanks for EVERYTHING in our lives, we, indeed, "pray without ceasing".

Of the many things I am thankful for today,  right at the top of the list is the visit we had last night from our daughter.  It was so nice to have her with us at the dinner table again and to share some laughter and a bit of dinner.  

# 10 - Attitudes of Gratitude - Granny

My Granny's home on 4th Street in Atlanta - what wonderful memories are attached to this home!! It's changed a LOT since my grandparents lived in it and the Flowering Quince bush is now gone. I can still remember the taste of the jelly she used to make out of those Quince!!!!

  On the left side of the porch as you face the house was a  WONDERFUL swing, and we spent many hours on that porch reading to each other!!  On the other side of the porch (the right side as you face the house) was a wonderful screened porch with a two-person hammock and chaise lounges and little tables . . . We spent many hours out THERE as well and sometimes my cousin, Sandra, and I would sleep in the hammock together when nights were very hot, as they often are.   The blocks of the walkway leading to the house, as well as in the sidewalk in front, were perfect for "hopscotch" and we wore out a MOUNTAIN of chalk drawing numbers to play!

 My Granny was born on November 10th, 1892 and died on April 26th, 1986.  Today she would have been 118 years old. While I know that isn't possible?  I would give anything to be planning Thanksgiving dinner around her big table in her house on 4th Street in Atlanta.  We had some more feasts "back in the day".  

I don't know WHERE she found those huge turkeys, but she did - - - turkeys with legs big enough to make a little girl sick for three days if she ate the whole thing.   We kids tried to be as good between Thanksgivings as we did between Christmases . . . why? because whomever was deemed "good enough" by my Granddaddy got to pull the "wishbone" with him.  None of us wanted to be left out of that!!! 

Granny was always "just" . . . what one of us got, all of us got - - - eventually.  I have to smile when I remember her rules, number one of which was "You don't move to the big table until you're 10 years old."  This was a non-negotiable.   Another one was, "When you turn six years old, and you can speak clearly and loud enough for Uncle Mid to hear you, you may stand in the chair beside Granddaddy and say the blessing before you go to the children's table."  (More about THAT one in a minute - - - I got scarred for life the year I did it.)  (3) The children who did NOT get to pull the wishbone were eligible to get a leg.  (4) "If you go around to the tables and eat all the pickles and olives and celery hearts BEFORE dinner,  you get no desert."    (Sandra and I missed more desert than we got in those years - - - we couldn't resist the olives - green and black - or the tiny little dill gherkins and SHE couldn't resist the bread-and-butter pickles.  I had even more trouble with the celery hearts.)    Fortunately for me, I didn't learn to love the pickled peaches until I was old enough to control myself with the relishes . . . oh, and the radish roses too! 

Granny always served dinner at noon.  If you were there, you ate. If you were late, you ate, but you ate what was left and usually "alone" at that big table.  Her main dining table sat 14 and there were only three grandchildren - - - my sister was in a high chair or a kid chair for lots of the time Sandra and I had to eat with her.  Sandra and I are 18 months apart. My sister and I are 8 1/2 years apart.  

The table groaned with food . . . that big old turkey at Granddaddy's end . . . which he always carved perfectly even while wearing a tie and a long-sleeved white dress shirt, freshly ironed and starched for the occasion - I'm not sure when Mary, Granny's cook and housekeeper, had time to do that, but she did . . . a beautiful baked ham at the other end . . . the kind you do yourself and pour Coca Cola over AFTER you put the cloves in and the pineapple rings touch just perfectly.   We had dressing - NEVER inside the turkey - two kinds of gravy - steamed rice - green beans from somebody's garden,   cauliflower in this special serving dish with LeSeur peas around the base - two kinds of Cranberry sauce - homemade biscuits the size of cat heads - sweet potato soufflé with little marshmallows on top - browned perfectly - and the pies - - - oh my goodness those pies!!!   Cakes - - - the grownups with their brandy after the meal . . . people sleeping all over the house from the tryptophans in the turkey . . . hot chocolate for the kids and before we went home, somebody read "The Night Before Christmas", mostly to remind us to be good because Santa was expected to visit and we wouldn't see each other between Thanksgiving and Christmas . . . when we'd do it all OVER again with a few menu variations and no fanfare about the blessing or the Wish Bone or the turkey legs.  

Granny knew how to do it right.  How I wanted to be like her and 

how often I'm not even in the ball park, much less a 

"heavy hitter" on the team.  

We had some wonderful feasts . . . the year I was five was our best year, I think, mostly because my own immediate family was intact and that was the last time that would be the case . . . Let's see - Mommy and Daddy and me (3),  Aunt Ethel and Uncle Baron (Kathy wasn't born yet so 2 of them),  Aunt Elizabeth and Uncle Carlton and Sandra (3),  Great Aunt Ethel and Great Uncle Jack (2), Granny and Granddaddy (2),  Great Step Aunt Ruby and Great Uncle Mid (2), and Great Aunt Lilla Mae (1).  That's 17 of us.  WOW!  things would change the next year. 

There's so much more . . . my love for my Granny was not a "holiday thing" only.  We spent a month at Daytona (Elinor Village) together every summer, often with Aunt Ethel and Uncle Jack and Sandra's family joining us . . . she LOVED Madame Alexander dolls and would take Sandra and me downtown to Rich's to ride the "Pink Pig" and see the toys several weeks before Christmas.  She never knew that Sandra and I knew all her hiding places for our dolls and we never failed to "act" excited on Christmas morning.  She would watch us watching the toys at Rich's and get whatever she thought we most admired when we weren't looking and then she would go home and sew BOXES full of clothes for them.  One year we got bride dolls with gorgeous gowns and veils and a trousseau to die for . . . another year, it was Harriet Hubbard Ayer dolls who had MAKEUP and she made gorgeous gold thread evening dresses for them.  By the time my sister came along, Barbie came with her and Sandra and I got one or two Barbie dolls before we declared ourselves "too old for this". 

Granny's Christmas trees were nothing short of "designer" 

and I would kill for some decent pictures of them to scan and keep!!  

All those old fashioned ornaments - - - birds and beautiful reflectors 

for the lights . . . glass beaded garlands . . . novelty lights

(like those bubble things) and tons of icicles!!!   

My Grandmother was a seamstress without peer.  She made everything Sandra and Kathy and I wore . . . beautiful little smocked dresses when we were babies . . .and even things for Dorothy in her later years, including  a  Christening gown of white eyelet.  One of the most memorable things she ever made me was my prom gown.  I had been downtown and seen a dress in Macy's window that I fell in love with - - - pink dotted swiss with tiny little spaghetti straps of satin - - - full skirted - the kind that demanded a hoop skirt and crinolines - a pink satin band between waist and bustline - and a beautiful "shirred" bosom . . . I wanted it - my mouth watered - I was invited to the Junior-Senior prom so I NEEDED it . . . price tag?  $450.00!!! (this was 1963 for heaven's sake). Mother laughed.  

Not one to give up without a fight (you may have noticed that), I walked to Granny's house after school the following Monday and  I talked Granny into getting on the $.10 shopper's special bus near her house  and going down to "look at it" with me.  She agreed with me that it was perfect for me and she agreed with mother that it was exorbitant and she didn't even scold me when I cried all the way back to her house on the bus.    Mother kept going with me various places to look for a "sensible" dress for the prom and I wouldn't make a decision.  I couldn't find pink or fluffy enough or princess-y enough to suit me.  Two weeks after the initial find, I was still crying myself to sleep over the dress. 

On a Sunday afternoon (two weeks and one day later) my Granny called and asked if I wanted to come to her house after school that Monday.  I always wanted to go to Granny's house. I didn't care if I WAS sixteen years old.  I was mad at Mother about the dress anyway and I thought going to Granny's might be fun. 

When I got there,  THE DRESS was hanging on a hanger in the door to what we called "the twin bed room" where Sandra and I always stayed when Sandra was in town.  No, it wasn't the $450 dress from Macy's.  My GRANNY had gone BACK downtown, studied the dress, figured out which of her patterns to use,  found material and COPIED the designer dress.  I cry thinking about the love that went into that dress.  It was perfect, too.  It fit the first time and all she had to do was stitch down the straps which she had basted until I tried it on and finish serging the hem.  Everybody in my class thought I had on the Macy's dress and I told them proudly that it was just a "copy" and that my Granny had made it.  I wore it both years - 1963 and 1964 - and I went with the same guy both years - - - my husband, Terry.  

The year Terry and I got married (1975) I went to work on the morning of November 10th with his Sears credit card proudly and safely tucked away in my purse.  Along with THAT, I had his "permission" to use it to get a birthday present for Granny's party that night.  As I started out to lunch,  it began to rain, and I heard a faint "mew" coming from under the back steps to my office.  There in a box with her brother was this beautiful very young, very tiny, black and white kitten who became my first cat, Charlotte.  A co-worker took the other one.  When I got home with the kitten, I went in to try to break the news to Terry that I had brought home a cat despite his earlier "no cats in a parsonage" decree.  I went in to where he was taking a nap and greeted him and said, "Guess what I got today?" and he had this 'new husband' fit - "What did you do to my credit card?" and I said "Nothing . . . it's a . . . " and before I could say "cat" there was this loud MEEEE_OWWWW from the living room.  He said, "That sounds like a cat and we don't have one."  I said, "I think there's a cat in a box in the living room.  Come see it."  He says, "You THINK there's a cat in there?"  and I said "yes".  I guess he was relieved I hadn't bought anything but a $10 sweater for Granny with the credit card, so he went to look, saying, "I'll look but I won't touch it."   Three minutes later, he's picking the kitten up and saying, "Oh, isn't it cute!!!"    A week later we decided to keep her.  She owned us for a month short of 19 years

and turned ME into a cat person!!

November 10th has lots of significance for me . . . 

mostly  I remember and am deeply grateful for Granny 

and all she meant in my life  -  in more ways than I can count. 

Giving Thanks With a Grateful Heart - # 7

 

Thanksliving is Thanksgiving!

You've seen this photo before if you've been on my F/L for a while.  It's a "composite" I did (I think in 2009) of some of my most memorable sunsets.  MOST of them are "winter" sunsets, and I guess I must have a gazillion such photos in my Flickr Photostream, because I LOVE the color of the sky in the winter - - - so clear,  cold, breezy,  a veritable myriad of color just begging me to "come out and play" with my camera!  And I do . . . way too much more than I should, probably.

I have always loved the night sky and particularly so in the winter months.  I wait anxiously for the appearance of my "friend" - the constellation Orion (the Hunter) - and am always delighted when it becomes visible in the sky overhead, usually about 10 PM by the time December rolls around.

When I was a little girl, I was a member of the Atlanta Junior Astronomy Club, and one of the "perks" of membership was the ability to "borrow" a telescope for a week at a time.  I always waited for winter months to take my turns, mostly because of Orion, but partly because I always kind of hoped I would see the "Bethlehem Star" somehow. 

I can remember so many cold nights with the temperature around 30 and dropping . . . all wrapped up in sweaters and gloves and a scarf and hat, sitting under a blanket and watching the stars and moon.  I knew the sky - like I knew the back of my hand, actually - and I loved the activity.  

Sometimes on Friday nights, we would be privileged to meet at Agnes Scott College in Decatur, GA, where there was a fabulous telescope (for that day) and we could see really well. It was warm and that was nice once in a while, but I really preferred the crisp cold nights and being OUTSIDE!!! 

I can also remember years later when we were living out in the country north of Atlanta (one of our first ministerial appointments) and the Northern Lights were actually visible for several nights in a row. It was dark enough in THOSE years to see the Milky Way clearly on winter nights. That area has grown, now, so big and busy that the street lights and security lights all but blot out the sky!!

I remember a December night not all THAT long ago when Terry and Idragged my best friend, Wendy, up to the top of the highest peak in Georgia (a mere "hill" to a lot of you who know, as I do now after all our trips on the Blue Ridge Parkway, what a MOUNTAIN is) to watch for meteors in the annual Geminid shower. We really TRIED to sit out on that mountain,but we were SO cold.  We never did see a meteor, but I heard later that it wasn't the show they had predicted.

This year, I'm anticipating the Leonids on November 17th and the Geminids on December 13th. I had almost forgotten how much I enjoy watching winter sunsets and the night sky until I started thinking about how very thankful I am for beautiful sunsets.

So, yes, if you've been wondering, the mystery ends here. Today's gratitude is for the grandeur of the sky under which I live, especially in the colder winter months when EVERYTHING seems to be more vivid and more special to me.

Hope you've had a great weekend . . .
"Twinkle, twinkle, little star . . ."

Give Thanks, With a Grateful Heart!

There is nothing more important in my own life than "giving thanks" to God for the blessings that "hallow my days" - for all I have, for some things I don't have, for those I love and those who love me, for my churches through the years, for my marriage, for my daughter, for my best friend, for my love of nature . . . for everything. I'm a huge believer in "Thanksliving" as a means of giving thanks!  

Every year for the last few years, I have started the month of November with a VOW to myself to express one thing each day for which I am particularly thankful at THAT moment in time and every year it  has been my pathetic custom to over-commit myself to "projects", to give in to the nudge of "volunteer-itis", to fail to recognize my limitations, old and new, and just generally to fail to do that which I ought to do and to do that which I ought NOT to do. Most especially, I am irked with myself for failing to honor my OWN pronouncement that said, "THIS year, I WILL express the gratitude I feel for family, friends, home, nature, etc."

I may not succeed in keeping that commitment to myself  THIS year either , but part of understanding my shortcomings and doing "something" about things I "can" change even in the midst of so many things I can't change, I'm posting the words to one of my favorite Thanksgiving hymns, written in the late 1800s by August Storm . . . "Thanks to God for My Redeemer ".  It says what I believe and feel and it says what  *I* hope I will say in the coming days.  It affirms just what I feel when I think of "thankful" - - - includes the good, the bad, the ugly and the in-between times of my life.

1. Thanks to God for my Redeemer,
Thanks for all Thou dost provide!
Thanks for times now but a mem’ry,
Thanks for Jesus by my side!
Thanks for pleasant, balmy springtime,
Thanks for dark and stormy fall!
Thanks for tears by now forgotten,
Thanks for peace within my soul!

2. Thanks for prayers that Thou hast answered,
Thanks for what Thou dost deny!
Thanks for storms that I have weathered,
Thanks for all Thou dost supply!
Thanks for pain, and thanks for pleasure,
Thanks for comfort in despair!
Thanks for grace that none can measure,
Thanks for love beyond compare!

3. Thanks for roses by the wayside,
Thanks for thorns their stems contain!
Thanks for home and thanks for fireside,
Thanks for hope, that sweet refrain!
Thanks for joy and thanks for sorrow,
Thanks for heav’nly peace with Thee!
Thanks for hope in the tomorrow,
Thanks through all eternity!

I wish for any of YOU who might come across this and read it a month of giving thanks and a wonderful sense of contentment in whatever state your find yourself in . . . in short - a time of "thanksliving".