In these conditions of separation it can be tricky to connect. Yet people surprise me.
There is a woman whose bigger than life sized picture smiles at me every time I walk through the theater but whose actual presence I have not felt in years. Recently she has been posting about gratitude. One item per day. Except that she takes the cumulative approach.
This week she got a bit behind, and to catch up she named 72 reasons to be glad. That's the culmination of days 23, 24 and 25.
Her list included blessings to hear...
The roses by my desk are still not all the way dead. They have kept their color even if they are rustly now.... The occasional “thump!” as snow falls off the roof of the school.... My brother performing “Climb Every Mountain” in a powerful operatic voice downstairs.
Or not hear...Sound canceling earbuds... which she has mentioned before. I am curious, having never used them.
She expressed visible gifts...
My sister popping up in front of my open office window to say hi! It was maybe my favorite moment of the day... My socks which are blue with all the Hogwarts ghosts on them including Nearly Headless...Getting to see a few pictures of a friend’s sweet baby and getting to hear a heartwarming story about the exhaustion and happiness of motherhood.
There were delights to feel...
Hot running water....The hand-painted, sealing-waxed card I got in the mail from a friend... Whatever this thing is—it’s like a metal daddy-long-legs spider with a handle out the top and you push it down and up on your head and it massages it and makes it feel like you are getting brain stimulating therapy.
Her list encompassed joys to taste...
Good food... Amazing soup for lunch made by my brother and his wife... Chocolate truffles...An impromptu cereal party with fam.
Her relationship with God...
Whenever I get a clear idea of how to do something, Thank you, Lord... That the Lord is so patient and merciful... Still thinking about the sermon from Sunday on ways and gates and steps – it has come to mind so often this week... This quote from my morning reading: Psalm 9:20 “Arise, O Jehovah; let not man be strong; Let the nations be judged before Thy face.
Put fear into them, O Jehovah; Let the nations know they are but man. Selah.”
She explored ways to serve...
Getting to take things to a friend who can’t be at work for a few days and getting to stand in the sunshine and visit...Getting to take the covers off the tree house chairs and wash them – I want to start using it again – maybe even for studying.
She included opportunities to learn...
A really cool article about Incan/Andean Quipus – look them up!...That I did a morning reading!...Comparing a god of the Maya and a god of the Aztec and seeing similarities and differences.
Her musings even spread to what has not happened, another arena for thanks....
I have had a few close calls this month with almost losing a dongle when I needed it for class, but it has never officially been lost...That several people I know who have had Covid have recovered super well and fairly quickly...All the people who are doing all sorts of things so that the school can keep operating this year....The fact that the driveway wasn’t ice anymore so I could drive my own car to work today...Figuring out that I had more days to complete something than I
thought!!!
I could go on. She did. But perhaps what is even more remarkable, her list inspired gratitude in her readers, who have gone on to look for and find blessings too.
