Month of Thankfulness Day 1

I'm so glad I saw my cousin starting this, or else I would have forgotten that I wanted to.  I attempted to do it last moth, and failed, but, now I'm bringing it on.

The challenge? Note 1,000 things for which you are thankful in a month.

The help?  If this is hard for you to do on your own, I've got a list to follow.  All you have to do is write it out according to the category given, as provided by the website called A Holy Experience.  They have a "Joy Dare" for each month.  Their backlogs can be found here.

The start?  I will begin now.  Will you?

3 Gifts Eaten

When I first saw this thankfulness assignment, I didn't think it would be that cool of one.  I didn't think it would live up to the name of the challenge and fill me with joy... I mean, it's just food.  Turns out, I was very, very wrong.  This day is looking up!

1. I'm thankful that I've always had enough food to eat.  I've even had enough food to be picky.  I've always had so much food that I've been able to look at a full cupboard of food and yell, "Mom!  There's nothing to eat!"  I've had enough food that I knew I was hypoglycemic (those without food never can realize that's what it is).  I've had enough food that I think that going 2 hours past my normal meal time is what it means to be "SO HUNGRY!"  I have been blessed.
2. I'm thankful for all of the Thanksgiving dinners I've gotten to eat with my family.  This month is especially hard for me, as I, once again, will not be with them, but I've had 21 other Thanksgivings with them, and that is a wonderful, beautiful blessing.



Okay, so it's not officially Thanksgiving dinner in this picture, but it was at our Thanksgiving reunion (1999).

3. I'm thankful for the food that I've eaten that's come from friends when I've needed their friendships most.  Like the time my friend Mark and I were both suffering from crazy sinuses, but he picked me up, and we both went out in our pajamas to Kroger, and we bought cookie dough, ice cream, and chocolate.  The cashier looked at us with a knowing smile that actually looked like she had absolutely no idea about the truth of the situation, but it made for a wonderful memory.  Or the time that I had swine flu, and I posted on Facebook about how I really wanted a Cherry Limeade from Sonic, and my friend Markus got one and dropped it off with my RA for me.  And then there's the time that my boss knew the kind of hours I was keeping my junior and senior years in college and would make me lunches almost every day, having them ready by 10:30am, for me to run in, grab them, and fly out again, never once letting me pay for them.  Yes, food has definitely been good to me in showing me how loved I am.

"Blessed are You L-rd our G-d, King of the Universe… Who brings forth bread from the earth… Who creates various kinds of sustenance… Who creates the fruit of the vine… of the tree… of the earth… by Whose word all things came to be.” (Jewish blessing over food)

PS.  I know it's November 2 here, but I'll deal with that somehow.  Maybe I'll just go by East Coast standards, or I'll double up or something...

All Saints Day

Today is the day that we celebrate the saints that have passed into the arms of G-d, who are no longer on this earth to bless us with their physical actions and presences, but who continue to bless us with their memories and our continued actions because of them.

I'd like to take advantage of this post to remember the saints from my life who have passed on.

George Royster, my father's father.  Even in the hospital, he would have my father read him his Sunday School lesson.  In life, I worried about his faith in G-d, because it didn't look like mine or what I was raised to think faith should look like - "Big Church" is more important that Sunday School, play Christian music all the time, try to bring conversations back to G-d, etc... Now that I'm older and have experienced more of the world, I just realize that my grandfather was a man of few words (his experiences in World War II left him feeling like a lot of things were better left unsaid), but his actions spoke very loud.  My grandfather loved Jesus, his family, and baseball, and I know this, not because he spent all him time talking about them, but because he spent all his time with them.

Kyle Funke, possibly the hardest one for me to write about.  Kyle attended college with me and was a light on our campus.  He had struggled with cancer for ten years, and, thus, knew how to take advantage of life.  He studied hard, but, when a life opportunity presented itself, he lived it, regardless of what class it might occur during.  He lived HARD and FULL, and is often my inspiration when I do things that scare me.  He's taught me to grip the bull by the horns and dive headfirst into everything life has to offer, keeping Christ at the center of it all.  It's painful to know that G-d took him back when he was so young, but I know that there's nowhere else Kyle would rather be.

Norman Schanck, my mother's father.  It takes little introspection for me to know what my pop-pop meant to my walk with G-d.  He was my rock of faith.  Whether that came from his being a pastor, his faith itself, or some of both, I'm not sure, but, nonetheless, I felt secure in my faith, knowing he was secure in his.  To be honest, I couldn't tell you his beliefs on a lot of the debated dogma, but I do know that Jesus loves me truly, deeply, and unfathomably, and I know it because my pop-pop taught it to me.  Even as he left this world, he was teaching it to me.  That is a lesson I cling to, and always will.

Feel free to share with me about your saints.  I'd love to hear all about them and what they taught you.