Thankful List

Not just for tradition's sake but because I've been in a personal battle against self-pity and bitterness and cynicism for a couple of weeks and because...

"No truth, no matter how profound, will find its way into a heart that is absent
of gratitude." (Erwin McManus)

I offer my Thanksgiving 2006 Thankful List

• my cozy, happy home (they are starting to burn down the condemned houses in Conklin...I feel nauseous every time I drive out of town)
• my amazingly kind and hard-working husband -- who also gives the world's best foot rubs AND burned a CD of the John Mayer trio for me for our 16th anniversary (which is tomorrow!)
• my four growing-up kids who remind me all the time how imperfect, and yet loved, I am
• my extended family who have recently produced the most adorable nieces and nephews I could hope for
• my new brown corduroy pants that look great and still will allow me to enjoy a Thanksgiving feast today (only if I leave the belt home, though)
• my new job doing what I love at a place that I love with people I love
• my DVR (materialistic I know, but I am thankful for it)
• my church, as imperfect as it is, that is committed to risking all that status-quo offers in order to come against the gates of hell in this valley
• friends who provide a safe place to land when life gets bizarre
• my blogging buddies
• my author 'mentors' -- Brennan Manning, John Eldredge, Madeline L'Engle, Dan Allender, Kevin Leman, John Ortberg, Andy Stanley, Donald Miller... (to name a few!)
• my Abba who just blows my mind most of the time...for reasons like this...

"Your ordinary self is exactly where God wants to work extraordinary
miracles. The inconspicuous nobody who shivers when it's cold and sweats when it's hot, who wakes up so many days feeling not-at-all-ready to face the world, who can barely get dressed and show up on time and at the right place, who has to read the paragraph three times to understand it, who feels lonely and hopeless, isolated, crowded, horny, left out, and taken in all at once -- YOU are the one God loves! Deal with it. (Brennan Manning)

So...

Happy Thanksgiving everyone!