Day 6 of 40 Following the Prayer Steps of Jesus

I am thankful for mornings, for new days, for the fact that we are made to shut down, go to sleep and wake up each day renewed and refreshed. For me it is like rebooting a sluggish computer. You may have heard the saying, “Things will look better in the morning.” And it’s true. Imagine if life was one long, continuous day. We would very likely go insane. Each morning is a chance to start over, to be a better person, to be transformed by the renewing of my mind.

Thank you, God, for your infinite wisdom, your wondrous creation, your profound mystery.

Thank you Jay for sharing these “basics” we so often overlook yet which are the basis of so much good in our lives. I too am so thankful for the way in which each new day seems to represent a fresh start, a new beginning, a clean slate.

I am so thankful for my health and the health of my family. This is certainly something I take for granted each morning when I wake up. It is truly a blessing from above that I get up each day and can eat with my mouth and feed myself with my hands and have to be given nourishment through a feeding tube. I can walk into work on my own two feet and not with a walker, cane or wheelchair. Everyday I come into contact with people who are going about their life just like I am and when their health is quickly and unexpectedly taken from them. Everyday that I wake up healthly I give praise to God.

I am was trying to comment using my phone and didn’t do a good job editing. I am thankful I DON’T have to be given nourishment through a feeding tube. Sorry about that. I don’t have the gift of putting my thoughts in writing like those of you that have been contributing to this blog.

I am thankful for my parents. I realize so often that they have had such an influence on who I am. I also realize that I took so much for granted about them before I became a parent myself. I consider them GREAT in so many ways. My brother and I are both results of their teaching. They taught us to put God first in all things. They taught us to live within our means. They taught us to serve others before self. They taught us that honesty is always best. They taught us the clear difference between right and wrong. These lessons were not sit down, study times. These lessons were taught by example. I continue to learn from them as I watch them serve their neighbors and community. I watch them push their church leaders to be a Jesus to the lost and hurting. I watch them put their own needs to the side as they provide for those without.

Thank you God for my mom and dad!!! Help Rodney and I to be teaching examples to our girls.

Yesterday a motivational speaker spoke to our students at an honors program. He showed a video with many little “sound bites” of ways to make life more meaningful in simple ways. One statement said, “Be thankful for every meal.” This stood out to me because during Lent I eat much more simply and mindfully, trying not to shovel food into my mouth without noticing, but to take the time to savor and taste each bite. This is especially meaningful when taken in the context of fasting: if you have skipped a meal or a period of time when you normally would eat, then even a sip of water is more meaningful and nourishing. If you give up a favorite food for a time, then that first bite tastes even more delicious than you remember . And when you break the fast, that first bite or even the first meal brings with it a reminder to be thankful. It also reminded me yesterday to be thankful not only for the food itself, but for the jobs that allow us to buy food, for the people who prepared it, for the plants and animals that contributed, for living in a place and a time where food is plentiful… and ultimately, that God is the provider of all these things.

I once had a junior high student who would doodle in class. I am okay with that; doodling is a great way for some students—especially artistic ones like this—to increase their attentiveness. One day I looked at what she was doodling. She had filled up an entire page of notebook paper with a block of words: “smiles,” “sunshine,” “friends,” “Jesus” and the like. I asked her about it and she said these were all things she was thankful for that day. She said she did this everyday.

My mother-in-law often reminds the family to count our blessings. LB now does the same, especially when I am down.

What great practices!

Oh, I am thankful for too many things to list for you all. Maybe most appropriate to this forum: I am thankful I am not alone.

And I am thankful for the laugh I got at Cathlyn’s expense! : )

I am thankful for childhood memories. After reading about Michelle’s parents and Jason’s doodler my mother’s singing came to mind. I can still hear her singing in her not so great but at least on key voice: “I’m satisfied with just a cottage below, a little silver, and a little gold…” She used to rock me to sleep and sing this song to me when I was a baby having trouble sleeping thru the night. I can also recall the times as a young boy when I had “growing pains” in my legs and mom would rub the aches away. Simple memories, I know. But I am blessed beyond measure because I have parents that love me, care for me, and taught me about God. I come in contact daily with so many people that do not, or have not experienced this blessing. Thank you, God, for my parents.

I am thankful for each of you and for the rich list of things to which you’ve called us to be thankful for.

I am thankful for growing things–all kinds of flowers, trees, shrubs, vines, vegetables, grass. i am amazed by emerging sprouts of daffodils and peonies, budding tulip poplars and azaleas, greening of parsley and even grass. I am thankful for the rich smell of the soil, for the warmth of the sun, for the lengthening of days, for the rain–all part of God’s plan for growth and renewal. I am thankful to get to witness this process that no human could ever have devised, to know that the Creator who spoke the world into being is still in control.

I am thankful for hope… For something to live for besides today. Today I attended a funeral of a godly woman who left this earth too early and felt helpless as I watched my friend , her daughter, bury her best friend. Thankful that mrs rita knew Jesus. Thankful that one day we will know a world without cancer.

On less dramatic days I am thankful for my faith, family, friends, smiles, prayer, and coffee!