Happy Thanksgiving!

Thanksgiving is here! In this extremely bizarre year, can we find something to be thankful for? Life will take us where our attitude goes. If I have an “attitude of gratitude”, will all my troubles go away? No, but a positive attitude will help me see things differently and appreciate all I have.

I actually sat down and made a list of things that I am grateful for this Thanksgiving. I know we’ve had a lot to whine about in this year of Covid, but when you make a list, the good far outweighs the bad. Why do we focus on the bad, the irritating or the unpleasant? Wouldn’t it be better to appreciate what we do have? I remember reading one of Corrie Ten Boom’s books in which she thanked God for the fleas that made their lives so miserable. The prison guards did not bother the women who had fleas. And she was grateful. It's all in how we perceive it.

I am grateful that the election is over. Whether your party won or lost, what is your attitude? Are you bitter, angry or sullen? Or are you gloating and boasting? My choice is to react with dignity and grace. I chose to pray for those in power. Will your choice make friends and influence people or cause hard feelings and drive others away. So many choices! Please make one that will ensure friendships, build a sense of community and is supportive of our nation.

I am grateful I have a roof over my head. There are those, even in this area, that don’t have that luxury. I am warm, I have food, I even have toilet paper! I don’t have a lot, but I have enough (and toilet paper is the least of my worries). For that I am extremely grateful.

I have freedom. Although there are times when I feel it is being removed from my life in small increments, in all the ways that count, I am free. I can express myself, exercise my right to vote, worship, travel and other things that are to numerous to count.

I can still get an education. Granted, it doesn’t look like it did last year, but it is still available. Although the fun part of school, the activities, are in short supply, we will survive that. Or we can be creative and find new ways to participate in these things. As Plato said, “necessity is the mother of invention”. And so it is!

I still have the freedom to worship as I choose. Again, that has a strange new look this year. Outdoor services this summer were actually kind of nice, but now it is distance and masks. While I miss all of the fellowship and social opportunities, I can still worship. And I thank God for that.

I have learned to appreciate the small things that I can participate in; neighborhood gatherings, walking with the girls, just walking in the neighborhood, or sometimes just plain walking since I now live with a bum knee. Somedays being upright is a real “high”.

I am thankful for medical facilities that are close. No more having to make that long drive in bad weather and on slick roads. No more wearing out my vehicle running back and forth. No more expensive gas fill-ups. While not a joy to go to the doctor, it is much easier.

I am grateful for friends. No one could be more blessed than I when it comes to friends. Old friends, new friends, all a precious and wonderful. Friends to reminisce with, to share with, to laugh and cry with . . . what more could I want?

I am so grateful for family and having them live closer to us. I've had the opportunity to watch little Oliver go from a newborn to a toddler. I witnessed my oldest grandson get his first car. And I had the pleasure of having the middle one here with us for his on-line schooling. I am blessed!

If I really think about it, my gratitude list is endless. I need to focus on it every day! I can even be grateful for Covid in a strange way. Not I am not grateful for the fear, panic, deaths or illness, but being locked down gave me a chance to cultivate that which I am passionate about . . . writing. With nowhere to go and not much to do, I have had the chance to work toward publishing a book someday. God provided a supportive writing group that has been helpful beyond my wildest dreams! That might not have happened if I had been off and running to all the activities I wanted to be participate in.

Make a gratitude list. Read it over every day, add to it, contemplate it, never let it go. For your attitude will make everyday things better, sometimes even the best. Smile (even if no one can see it), laugh, share, encourage others, keep in touch with friends and family. If it brings a smile to your face, do it! Your “attitude of gratitude” will help someone else down their bumpy road.

So this Thanksgiving, even if it is different from what we normally have, celebrate everything with a grateful attitude! Life is good, all the time! Especially if we choose to see it that way!

Just Writin’ on the River Road

Conspiracies and such?

So, okay . . . I have to admit that I am a conspiracy theorist deluxe. If it is strange, odd, weird or controversial, I genuinely enjoy exploring it. But I am not telling most of you anything that you don’t already know. Aren't you lucky to have weird friends? Or maybe not?

This isn’t something I have delved into recently, it has been a life long, on going endeavor on my part. Even as a child, I liked to read about strange things. Mysteries always enthralled me. They still do. I love trying to figure out “who done it”. Mostly, I wonder at the thoughts of the author . . . how does his mind work to come up with such interesting and unusual ideas? Or what about science fiction? Actually, science fiction isn’t really fiction anymore. It is said that what the mind of man can dream, he can accomplish. I think that’s true. Dick Tracy had a corner on the computerized watch market . . . who'd a thunk, way back then, we'd be Zooming and Skyping today.

Perhaps my “thing” is not so much conspiracy, but curiosity. I want to know about things, especially things that can’t be explained in normal ways. Haven’t you ever wondered about Bigfoot? Or UFO’s? What about the billions of galaxies out there? Don’t you want to know? I do. I have a brain that is obsessed with understanding things and making some semblance of order out of them. Even if it doesn’t make sense under the headline of “normal”, there is still an answer of some kind out there somewhere.

Conspiracy theorist are always thinking, always contemplating, trying to find an answer that works for them. We don’t have to agree, but it often times makes me feel better to think I’ve got a handle on the current mystery. And in exploring these ideas, I find that more often than not, they are not that far off base. In some cases, they are spot on! I need explanations! Are there UFO’s or not? What are they? I have my own theories, be they right or wrong, that have offered some reasonable answers for me.

Yes, I admit to being an Ancient Aliens, Monster Quest and Coast to Coast aficionado, to mention a few. Mostly those programs raise more questions than they answer. But they do make me think . . . what if, how come, why, where. I have never had a personal encounter with a UFO, but I know people who believe they have. Do I have an answer? No. But there probably is one out there somewhere. Just because I haven’t seen a flying saucer, or a Bigfoot, or a ghost, doesn’t mean that those things aren’t real to someone.

In this life we are never going to understand or explain all things. The best we can do is question everything. Whether it is the dark web, black ops, government cover up, Covid or political hearsay . . . I am willing to bet that there is a grain of truth in some of it. Truth is absolute, but once man gets done twisting and reshaping it, I don’t know what to believe. And so I consider it all, throw out that which doesn’t work for me, and proceed on my merry way until I actually have a “close encounter” of some kind. And it will happen someday.

I treat all of this unexplainable stuff like I do my Bible study. When I come across something that makes no sense to me, I put it in a mental box and file it away on my brain storage shelf. At some point, sooner or later, God will reveal His truth to me concerning the situation. It is really quite interesting how that works. It never ceases to amaze me anymore when that little “light bulb” goes on and I can see clearly.

Will we ever figure it all out? No. We were never meant to know everything. But isn’t the fun in discovery? Somebody convinced Columbus the world was round - - aren’t you glad? Galileo proved that the world doesn’t revolve around us. Good thing. The Wright Brothers believed they could fly. They were right.

If you can imagine it, you can dream it. Dream it, and you can do it! I believe that! Our problem today is that most of us don’t dream anymore. We must! Dream big! I mean, really big! Without a dream, we accomplish nothing. With a dream, the world becomes our footstool!

Just Writin’ on the River Road