“GRATEFUL FOR GRATITUDE LISTS”

I need lists! My Attention Deficit Disorder(ly) mind craves lists! They are very helpful to me—provided that I don’t lose the lists, and that I actually look at the lists frequently.

However, the list I need the most (even when my mind does not crave it) is the gratitude list. Indeed, I am grateful for gratitude lists. I try to start my day with at least thirty things for which to give thanks.

It is not, of course, an original idea. Most good ideas aren’t original, and many original ideas aren’t good. Gratitude lists go back as far as some the psalms of the Bible. The Apostle Paul, along with other letter-writers of the Greco-Roman world, started almost all of his letters with gratitude. (The one exception in Paul’s writings is his letter to the Galatians. He was so upset with them that he “forgot” the thanksgiving. I’m sure that got their attention!)

Usually, I write my gratitude down. I’ve tried doing it mentally, but that isn’t as easy or as fruitful. I need a hard copy!

I am rarely grateful for big things. That’s good, because my life is not usually made up of big things. I blog, wait tables, prepare for Hebrew class, try to keep the house straightened up, since my wife works at a very stressful job. I make and take twelve-step calls and e mail reports. If I am not grateful for little things, I won’t be grateful for much of anything, since virtually everything I do seems small.

The other day, a friend of mine who is on our church softball team, gave me a very down-to-earth reason to give thanks. We were talking about our team, our attitude, and our record. It is a perfect record, including the whole of last season. (In other words, we haven’t won a game in the past year plus.)

Bob is about my age (which is not nearly as young as I used to be). He said to me, “At our age, it has been a good game if we can get off the field on our own power.”

True that!

I am not suggesting that I (or anyone) should ignore the pain of living. That isn’t healthy! I am not suggesting that life is not a difficult business. It is a difficult business.

However, if you don’t have some things to thank God or the universe for, you’re not paying sufficient attention.

The sun is coming up as I bring this entry to a close. There are a few clouds in the east. They are a color I’m not sure I’ve ever seen before. In any case, I have never seen this particular sunrise. I’m sure of that.

GRATITUDE LIST:
1. This lovely sunrise.
2. . . .

Dteb

Fragments of a Song: Zephaniah 3:17

Every now and then, I catch the echoes of a song I cannot quite make out.  It is a haunting melody with wonderful lyrics, like a song heard in a dream.

Sometimes, in fact, I do hear it in my dreams.  More often, I hear it when I am fully awake.  Unfortunately, I am rarely fully awake.

Whenever I read Zephaniah 3:17, I realize that this is the song I’m hearing, but that only deepens the mystery.

“   The LORD your God is with you,

the Mighty Warrior who saves.

He will take great delight in you;

in his love he will no longer rebuke you,

but will rejoice over you with singing.” (NIV)

The Old Testament prophet Zephaniah lived during difficult times for the tiny Kingdom of Judah.  There were threats from outside, and oppression from within.  He was a descendant of King Hezekiah of Judah, but he was also likely of African descent.  (He is described as a “Son of Cush,” which may well mean that he was a black Jew.)  The troubled times, and possibly his ethnicity as well, likely made his life difficult.  Being royalty is not always good news, particularly in troubled times.

So, it is not surprising that the book of Zephaniah is full of darkness.  After the introduction, comes these sweeping words:

“I will sweep everything

from the face of the earth.” (NIV)

The book gets darker and more explicit after that.

Yet the promise of a new dawn comes at the end of the book.  And at that new dawn, Zephaniah hears a song, a song of great delight, a song of a mighty warrior.  No!  It is a song of the Mighty Warrior!

Yet, it is not a song of victory, or a song to taunt a defeated enemy.  Rather, it is a love song for exiles, for the oppressed.  It is a song of great joy.

Sometimes I hear this melody in a sermon, in a poem, in a song.  Sometimes I hear it in an achingly beautiful morning such as this one.  Sometimes I hear it when I read, when I study, when I write.  Sometimes I hear it when I am trying to obey God.  Sometimes I hear it when I have disobeyed, and need to know that I am loved with a “nevertheless” kind of love.  I am slowly going deaf, but I still hear snatches of this song.

Every now and then, I catch the echoes of a song I cannot quite make out.  It is a haunting melody with wonderful lyrics, like a song heard in a dream.

DTEB

I am indebted (and so are you) to two people for posting this video: my smart and funny wife, and a reader who was hoping for a funny dog video.

I root for the underdog. Probably, most of us do at times, root for the underdog. Why? Because most of us feel like underdogs most of the time!

Here is a great video, which speaks to that matter. Go, underdogs! http://dlisted.com/2016/02/02/open-post-hosted-by-a-little-wiener-dog-showing-us-how-to-win-a-squeaky-toy-fight/.

I just had to look up the word “techy!”  This is not a good omen for a first-time blogger or that blogger’s first post.

However, . . .

Perhaps a non-techy, old person can still learn a few things about “modern technology.”  This might be true, even if he thinks that modern technology is a salt shaker.

So, what does it mean to be a “down-to-earth believer?”  For me it means being as real as I can be at any given moment.  But I have discovered that being real is hard work.  Indeed, I find it impossible to be real without the empowerment of God.  A friend of mine said many years ago, “The Christian life is difficult to live without God.”  The obvious never suffers for being repeated.

So, this blog is by a Christian.  Am I conservative or evangelical or liberal?

I do not use those terms any more.  I have not changed my basic beliefs, though I have changed in my understanding of those basic beliefs.  Be that as it may, the terms “conservative,” “evangelical,” and “liberal” have been used for such a wide variety of theological, social, and political positions that they don’t mean much anymore.  As someone has said, “If a word means too much, it means nothing.”

So, what will this blog be about?

It will be about God, the Bible, you, me, and intensely practical things.  It will contain (hopefully) helpful things for you, funny stories, sad stories, links to funny videos on You Tube (primarily starring dogs).  It will, in short, be a jumbled-up closet of things which I set out for me and for you.

A few minutes ago, a guy stopped and hauled off an old grill from the end of our driveway.  I hope that our junk is his treasure.  I felt lighter, and I hope that he gets some use from it.

I may be setting out some really good things for you, and some of it may be junk.  Hopefully, we’ll both benefit from some of the things I set out.  As we say in twelve-step groups, “Take what you like, and leave the rest.”

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