Day 22: Story

Day 22:  What story are you grateful for?

I am grateful for the story of the Prodigal Son.  (For those not familiar, here is the story as it appears in the Gospel of Luke.)  I've been memorizing a verse this month that names some of the Christian virtues - compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness, and patience - and these virtues help describe what makes this story so lovely.

• Compassion - the father has mercy on his son.  He can't stand to see him suffering and he wants to help him.
• Kindness - the father is warm and welcoming towards his returning son when he has every right to be angry and turn him away.  
• Humility -  This is true of both the father and the son.  It's not easy to come back to a situation that you gladly walked out of, admit that you were wrong, and be ready to apologize and be treated as foolish and lowly.  The son humbles himself in order to go back to his family.  Likewise, it's not easy to welcome someone back who has made it clear that they think they're better off without you, let alone to celebrate lavishly when that person returns - the father humbles himself to receive his son home.  
• Gentleness - The father could require an apology from his son, or require him to work off the squandered inheritance, or just generally be harsh towards him - instead, he is tender and loving towards his son.  
• Patience - The story doesn't say exactly how long the son was gone, but it was long enough for him to squander his inheritance and for a famine to develop - so it wasn't like the son changed his mind in a day or two.  The father waited for his son, knowing that he might never return, and not punishing him for the delay in returning to the family.  

I am so grateful for this story that illustrates the beautiful way that God treats us, and the beautiful way we should strive to treat each other.  

Day 21: Song

Day 21:  What song are you grateful for?

I am grateful for the song "Come Ye Disconsolate", the Indelible Grace version.  (Link to song above; full lyrics below.)  I listened to this song over and over when we first came home from the NICU with Joshua.  We would drive to and from appointments and I would play this in the car and try to rest in the fact that, whatever test or surgery or diagnosis might be coming down the pike, it would all be made right someday.

[This year, I also discovered that this song is Beth from "Little Women"'s favorite hymn, which is a bonus thing I'm grateful for.]

Lyrics:

1. Come, ye disconsolate, where'er ye languish, 
Come to the mercy seat, fervently kneel. 
Here bring your wounded hearts, here tell your anguish; 
Earth has no sorrow that heaven cannot heal.

2. Joy of the desolate, light of the straying, 
Hope of the penitent, fadeless and pure! 
Here speaks the Comforter, tenderly saying, 
"Earth has no sorrow that heaven cannot cure."

3. Here see the bread of life, see waters flowing 
Forth from the throne of God, pure from above. 
Come to the feast of love; come, ever knowing 
Earth has no sorrow but heaven can remove. 
Come, ye disconsolate, where'er ye languish.

Day 20: Who

Day 20:  Who in your life are you grateful for today?

I am grateful for friends here in Reno.  It can be really hard to make friends at this stage of life, with everyone extremely busy with their families and jobs and all the other things it takes to maintain life.  It's even harder when you move in as an outsider, and your family and school friends all live elsewhere.  And it's hard when you're a reserved person who doesn't have a special talent for small talk.  So considering all that - I feel so blessed to have a couple groups of friends in Reno who I get to see regularly.  One is a group from church, and the other is a group of former co-workers.  It makes such a difference to know that there are people who I can text anytime, who I will get to have adult conversation with at least once in a week, and who will share the ups and downs of life with me (and vice versa).  I'm so grateful for you, Reno friends!

Day 19: Touch

Day 19:  What touch are you grateful for today?

I am grateful for hugs from my family members.  From Ivy, her constant cuddles are the beginning of our relationship, and the sweetest part of her utter dependence on me.  From the two older kids, hugs are a choice to be kind towards me and a strengthening of the relationship we already have.  From Kenny, hugs are reassurance, strength, and companionship.  And all of the hugs show my family's love, which is the thing I am most grateful for.

Day 18: Art

Day 18:  What piece of art are you grateful for?

This is both funny and true.

This is the first one I've had to think really hard about what to choose.  I can think of hundreds of books and songs I'm grateful for (and those are certainly types of art, although other prompts in this 30 day series address those thing), but visual art is something that I'm not very well versed in.  And although the question doesn't specifically ask about visual art, that's how I took it on first reading, so that's where I,m going to go with it.  I'm grateful that really beautiful art exists, and I love pieces like Van Gogh's Starry Night or Monet's Water Lilies -- but if I'm being honest, they don't hold any special meaning for me.

What I really like, though it's about as low brow as it gets, is "art" with a sense of humor, like really funny memes.  I know that memes are not all good - sometimes they are overly mean, or dumb down a complicated conversation in an unhelpful way.  But I'm grateful for memes that make you literally laugh out loud, something we can all use more of in our life.

Day 17: Knowledge

Day 17:  What knowledge are you grateful for?

I am grateful for the experiential knowledge gained during my Americorps year working for a homeless prevention outreach program in Alamosa, CO.  My job was to meet with people who were near homelessness - facing an eviction notice, a foreclosure, or a utility shut-off that would cause homelessness - and to try to work out a plan that would keep them in their home.  I learned that there are tons of factors that can bring people to this point, ranging from systemic injustice to generational cycles of poverty to a bad economy to bad individual luck and/or choices.  I was privileged to hear people's stories, which almost always included some good times and some bad times.  I was blessed to grow up in a finacially secure home, so I knew very little about poverty other than what I had read in books or heard in academic conversations.  It's a whole different experience to actually talk to the people who are impacted - which is not at all the same as experiencing it yourself, but it does give you helpful knowledge as you try to understand and think of ways to help with poverty.  I'm grateful to the people who told me their stories, and to La Puente for bringing in Americorps volunteers and giving us an experience that certainly helps us as much as the people served.

Day 16: Body

Day 16:  What about your body are you grateful for?

I am grateful that my body has allowed me to have 3 healthy pregnancies and labor and deliveries.  It's a miraculous, remarkable, sometimes miserable but at the same time happy thing to have another person living inside your body.  Those moments where you get to hear your baby's heartbeat for the first time, see a picture of them by ultrasound, and feel (and eventually see) the baby kicking are unbelievably sweet.  And that moment where you first meet your newborn baby is like nothing else, it's one of the highlights of your whole life.  I'm so grateful that I got to participate in this process, and I'm grateful that my body (thanks to the grace of God) handled the process without too much difficulty or struggle.