Where Did Thanks Go?

Fall weather, fall leaves, the trees alive with color,

the air full of a chill.

It makes you want to pull a sweater over your head
 and socks over your toes.

It motivates you to warm cider on the stove and it seems like a good  idea to use spices like nutmeg, cinnamon, and cloves.

Pumpkins stop being used for jack-o-lanterns, 
ending up in pies and as beautiful centerpiece displays.

On these days we prepare to gather together and 
pause to give thanks. 
To reflect on what we have come through and 
on the people that took that same journey too.

It is traditionally the time turkeys check their passports 
and plot to leave town unannounced before they are 
pronounced the main course on this set aside day.

I keep running into this feeling that we are skipping 

over this traditionally American celebration.

A foundational memory that we all share as it has been passed down as part of the fabric of who we are, 
both as individuals and as a nation. 

People believing for a better life and free existence 
full of choice and potential. 

They were willing to work hard, risk everything 
and imagine anything was possible. 

A country built on hope and grateful hearts filled to overflowing with determination, tenacity, and grit. 
For future generations they did this, 
not because they were asked or conned into it. 

Only for what they believed wholeheartedly 
did they willingly give their all.

America the land of the free and the home of the brave. 

Have we turned into the land of the clueless and the

home of the unmotivated and ungrateful? 

It appears so, but I stand in the hope that at the heart of the people beats the pioneer with creative imaginations, ingenuity plentiful enough to carve a nation out of a wilderness and open hearts enough to appreciate and value the things of life that are genuine..

This tradition we have held to pause in gratefulness. 
To collectively put a halt to the hullabaloo. 
To cease contributing to the chaos and to say, 
"Thank You." 
Let us hold fast and make it last. 


The idea to pause in gratefulness is an American apple pie kind of thing, but anyone, anytime can adopt the concept and make it a contagious habit.
 Gratefulness is a free gift, we can all have it. 

All we have to do is reach out and grab it.

Time to Choose

Time to Go

Time to Stay

Time of Year

Time of Day

Time of Life

All the experiences

and people we meet 

along the way.

Discouraged, Disheartened, 

Disenchanted, Disconnected

Purpose, Placement, Assignment

Hold close to it in a supportive 

or even a hostile climate. 

Chaos, Chatter, Noise of the day.

Sound bites flying at you 

from every which way. 

The flurry of people passing

"I'm in a hurry." 

Absent of smiles....

this is all they say.

Often at the cost of our peace, 

nearly at the cost of our souls,

we get sucked into chaos and 

away from what needs 
to be our purpose, our true goals.

It happens. It happens ever so subtly.

It happens right under our nose.

Sometimes that is the way it goes,

but it does not have to be. 

We have options you see.

Headaches pound.

Heartbreaks grind.

Turning our feelings into dust.

They blow away, not even the 

smallest particles we can find.

Friendships pass away

as seasons change

and paths divide.

Painful as it can be,

it is a part of life 

from which we cannot hide.

The norm is no longer.

Unfamiliar territory 

coming full steam ahead.

Not always comfortable....

Often times it all feels quite daunting.... 

Downright formidable in scope.

So stop

Be still

Breathe in

Exhale

Look around at 

what is yours

and what is not.

Make a plan 

Form a plot

Foundational preparation

Down the road 

you may not

be a little bit glad....

but a lot!

Hope here is defined:

The feeling that what is wanted 

can be had 
or that events

will turn out for the best. 

So grab up for yourself 

a two fisted portion of hope.

Let go of the grind.

Don't let the chaos suck you in.

Leave all the turmoil behind.

Choose Hopefulness

Over Haplessness

Just a few little thoughts

to hold in your heart

and keep in your mind.

Life can't be wrapped 

neatly in a bow.

It cannot be held tightly

with a piece of twine.

Life lives, moves, grows

The world is unpredictable

The events unfathomable

The outcomes unbelievable

The world of yesterday irretrievable

TODAY IS OURS

Let's make it memorable and sweet

and give good deeds feet and joy wings.

NO WORRIES !

Pockets turned inside out
Topsy Turvy Swirling

Completely Curvy

Solid ground giving way

Nothing is what it has 

been..zero recognition.

Can't wrap my head around it...

struggling with my cognition.

Interpretation........

Yours, mine or another.

Let's find the truth and 

shine light on the spot.
It is worth a shot.

 Life might not look like it did.

  Life might feel uncertain,

    as if there is a mysterious person 

    pulling strings behind a curtain.

Focus on what is real.

Might I appeal to your heart

beginning to fill with fear

and your mind being crowded with

unanswered questions

on the mount? 

By the hour they grow; 

too many to count.

The obstacles up ahead, not

to mention the ones in your face.

On your own, they are impossible

to surmount.

Then you realize with
profound relief that......

God is God

 the one who covers

everyone of His children

with power and strength.

In love He comforts and

in love He protects.

In love He opens doors we can

walk through in faith.

Though circumstances give our

knees a reason to shake.

Doesn't matter how many 

opposing forces object.

Doesn't matter the degree of

gross misrepresentation 

He has had of late.

God is God for heaven's sake!

Author of love; not a promoter for hate.

Securely He is seated upon His throne.

No worries.

Good grief

Allow me to be brief

GOD IS GOD

No matter who is Commander in Chief!

Utterly Transformed

Winged Shadows Gliding 

along the surface of the earth.

Caterpillars inching along

the length of the limb.

Butterfly roaming free, 

reaching great heights.

Caterpillar slowly making progress,  

tiny distances covered.

Once it was a caterpillar, 

that delicately painted butterfly, 

until it went to a 

place of isolation, 

darkness and silence.

It remained still as time ticked away.

Sun up, sun down.

Day after day, 

in quiet stillness it lay.

Then suddenly, it happened..... 

emerging from darkened isolation. 

Itself, yet utterly transformed.

Wings wet, it sits. 

The passing minutes blend together. 

The butterfly opens its wings once, 

twice, three times and.... stillness.

Then in a fraction of a breath,

it makes the expansive blue sky its home.

Up, up, up and away on this venture so fresh.

Free to travel, great miles to roam.

Are you a caterpillar or a butterfly?

 Am I?

Maybe not, but encouragement is to be found.

You may be a leaf eater and long to be a 

beautifully painted glider on a passing current..... 

figuratively speaking, of course!

Alas, the pattern is the same for we human types.

Getting to the place we want to be, can be a slow journey.

The view can be dim and before the desires 

of our hearts can meet us, 

often we must dwell in a place that feels 

dark, lonely and far too quiet.

In those places, we grow, we change and we, much like

the butterfly, once a caterpillar, will one day emerge 

from our dark place into the light as ourselves, 

yet utterly transformed.

If you find yourself in a place

 you would rather not be,

doing tasks you would rather not be doing....

simply be still.

Your day, your moment and all its glorious purpose 

will reveal itself in the proper time. 

Hang around like a caterpillar

and soon you will, like the butterfly.....

Take flight. 

Rubble At Your Feet

Empty Chair

Blank Page

Thoughts come with effort, 

if at all, at this stage..... 

it has everything to do with

circumstance of long standing 

and nothing to do with age.

On the edge of breakthrough,

you feel as if you will break down.

But, stick your hand in your 

pocket and take hold of the mustard seed.

Faith is believing, not in circumstance,

but in God's promises we can choose to heed.

Tired, bummed out and burnt out, 

it's time to hold your peace, 

but almost time to let loose

 with a Jericho shout!

March forward, even though

your eyes are blurry and you

have an ache in your feet. 

This task, with all its layers

and its many players

is finally, at long last,

nearly complete.

Discouragement will try to move in

and obstacles will seem to multiply

before your eyes.

Believe in the things hoped for and 

what onlookers deem impossible.

Time has moved slowly

Now the clock will quicken

at a rapid rate.

All that debri and burden

will soon, no longer be a barrier,

but mere rubble at your feet.

Trippin........

Trippin, Zippin, and Flippin

People, the constant surprise,

People, the ever present source of joy 
and trouble in our lives.

People, completely rise to the occasion.

People, our connection to love and laughter.

So important to take full pleasure 
in every day,

 walking in your purpose 
and running with it all the way.

Don't be deterred
 or wallow in discouragement. 
Take a pause, a deep breath too..... 

Then gather up your courage
 and head toward the dream.

We are all meant for something special ,
so look around and see 
who is and is not on your team.

When we walk through life believing
 in the good things promised 
and the dream in our hearts 
as the reality of our lives,

it changes our focus. 
We stand taller, reach further, 
and feel less and less 
a need to murmur.

Trip, but get up again.

Zip through life arm in arm 
with those
 that believe in and 
share your dreams.

Flip a coin if you must, 
but where it's at is on the side that says 

"In God We Trust."

Hoping Skills

Transition, Forward Motion,

Change, 

Time to Rearrange

It all means that the way it is, 

is not the way it is going to be.

We know the inevitable change sits, 

waiting around the next corner.

There is no surprise that it waits.

The details are obscure, the timing a bit of a blur.

 The inevitability of that certain change

 encompasses a wide and varied range.

It is an emotional exercise of holding in your heart 

what is familiar and what is old, 

while opening it to something new.

The effort to gain 

your footing....your balance 

can, for a time, make you blue.

We often label those times as adventures,

 to hide from ourselves and others

 that it isn't all that much fun.

Little scary, quite intimidating

But when you mix those things

 in with exciting opportunities, 

with possibilities, limited only by 

the height of our courage

 and 

the width of our imagination,

hope grows.

Change can be bad.

Change can be good.

Change is greeting a difference, 

welcomed or unwelcomed.  

Coping skills, in times such as these, are

wrapped up in the Hoping Skills you choose to embrace.

 Hope, it carries

 you through the first 

steps of a new experience.

The hope that sees

 you through each challenge,

whether it be involving new relationships,

a career move, a chance for higher learning,

a dream long dreamed, one you have been yearning for, 

more years than you can imagine, 

finally coming true. 

A fresh place to call home.

A tiny new person arriving 

you can't quite believe 

you get to 

call and love as your own.

The hope that believes

for a better tomorrow

in a day that went

terribly wrong.

The hope that sustains you 

through a dark night to meet the morning,

singing a new song.

The hoping skills are the coping skills

to have at the ready when

life's transitions shift.

Stand firm in whatever place you find yourself;

in a cozy nook or

 a wide, unfamiliar, open space.

If we are willing to accept it, in each local, we will be met and covered by God's loving, unshifting grace.