Truly Thankful

This Thanksgiving Day I want to acknowledge all the many blessings I have in my life. Many times in the past, I have given brief thought to it, then moved on to the feast. Today is different, because my world is different. Today I want to think deeply and with an attitude of complete gratitude to God for all he has given me.

I am thankful for family and friends who have stood by me in some very difficult times. I have had so much encouragement and support as I start my new business and career. I didn't choose the timing, God did, but I feel so fortunate to have the moral support of so many people.

I am thankful for the ability to keep learning even as I hit my mid-50s. I am grateful that I enjoy learning new things because now I have to!

I am grateful for God's many blessings of a loving family. I delight in my grandchildren and my children. I marvel at their wisdom, humor, playfulness and maturity.

I am grateful for the gift of humility, because I have certainly had plenty of it lately. I am reminded that God brings me to the places I need to be and sometimes those roads aren't very smooth.

I am grateful that God sent his son Jesus to us and that he chose to die for us. I cannot imagine making that choice willingly, knowingly except to save my own children. When I try to appreciate that, I am awestruck by the vast love God has for us and my connection to him as a child of God - a family member of Jesus.

I am thankful for a roof over my head, food on the table, love of family and friends, beautiful sunrises and dramatic sunsets. I am thankful that I have been given the chances I've had to do so many amazing things.

So today, on Thanksgiving, I hope you, too, will pause and truly count your blessings. Then, enjoy a wonderful Thanksgiving dinner.

God is leading me to a new path

I love what I do professionally. I have spent the last 25+ years doing corporate marketing and I've learned a lot. I enjoy the challenge of finding ways to communicate the value of my company to its customers. I almost always worked in the non-profit world because I felt the values of those companies better matched my own. But I confess that in the past year or so I was beginning to wonder if I was truly using my skills to advance God's will in the world. Always before, I felt a connection between my work and my purpose. Then, I was suddenly out of a job.

I assessed my skills, my age, my desires and prayed. I decided to try opening my own consulting business which is a long-held desire of mine. I asked God for support and to bless my work. I have been so blessed with success within a few short weeks. I am not making the same amount I did before in the corporate world, but I am finding clients who value my knowledge and experience, as well as my skills. Plus, I am happier and living with far less stress.

Today, I pitched a company that gives God the credit for the success it has had. And then I knew - this was God's plan. I don't know for sure that this company will hire me, but it looks good. And if I work for them, I will have the comfort of knowing my work will be helping a company that believes in doing God's work.

Not every client will be so closely matched, I guess, but I felt an inner certainty today that I was on the right path. I'm hoping that my prayers will continue to bring me into contact with companies like that, and work that I can believe in.

Where's My Red Sea?

This morning, my scripture reading was the story of the Israelites leaving Egypt and all of the plagues visited upon the Egyptians by God through Moses. I read the story in awe, as usual, trying to picture each unfolding plague. It's hard to do when you are a modern woman who hasn't ever even seen a locust, let alone millions of them. I've never been in a desert, or seen a hissop branch or slaughtered a lamb. So it can be tough to picture in my mind's eye.

So I get to the part about the Israelites finding the stream of bitter water and their complaining. In my self righteousness I'm thinking, geez, these are some unbelievable people! The Lord just did all these amazing things for them including parting the Red Sea! Why can't they just figure out that He is going to make sure they get to their destination? How dumb can they be, right?

Ah, that's when the Lord laughs at me. I might not have a Red Sea in a literal sense, but I've certainly survived my share of debacles and tragedies because the Lord was there to care for me and lead me to safety. I've got Red Seas all through my life and yet, and yet, I continue to doubt the Lord's ability to steer me safely through the next speed bump.

Because let's face it, I have had difficulties in my life and I've even lost loved ones. But I've never had an army chasing me through the desert. I've never had to flee with the clothes on my back. I'm blessed beyond my ability to imagine. But I still try to take control of situations that start to go south without stopping to realize that the Lord is already in control.

My Red Seas dot the landscape of my life and I'm certain there will be plenty more before I leave my earthly body. I just have to try to remember that the Lord, our Savior, our Redeemer, the Creator and the Almighty, God of Hosts and Maker of the Universe is already on the case.

Two nights ago, my oldest son headed back to college. We all said our good-byes out in the driveway - first me, then my husband, then my youngest son. I stood by the back door watching them hug and say private words to one another. They clung together for a moment and I was so moved by their love for each other that I whispered "thank you God" over and over. I am truly blessed with a loving family and I couldn't have asked for a better gift.

This morning, my scripture reading was in Exodus and as I read about Moses and Aaron, I connected their story with my boys. Two brothers, alike and different in many ways. Clinging to one another, Moses and Aaron used their own unique strengths to deliver God's messages to Pharaoh. Moses was worried about his ability to speak, so Aaron stepped up for the assist. Both Moses and Aaron wield the staff to create the plagues that visited Egypt. They did it together, standing by one another.

Of course the lesson of Moses and Aaron breaks down when they get into the desert and Moses goes up on the mountain to receive the 10 commandments. But maybe the story there is that they were separate - that without Moses, Aaron was subject to the temptation that caused so much pain and angered God.

Brothers have an intricate relationship and the one between Moses and Aaron was certainly unique. What I pray for my sons is that they also find that unique place where they balance and support one another - and that they are always there to shore up the other's weakest moments.

Rearview Rainbow

Rearview Rainbow
by Kim Deppe

Rainbows in the rearview
I turn back and look
vying with the snarling traffic
rush hour, rain, and routine
the colors glow
first one bright rainbow,
then two.
a double-headed wish for my better evening
God's reminder
of double blessings
despite the hoary traffic.

Cars stop and go
brake lights
compete with the
multi-colored promise
in my rearview.

Going home. Going home.
Uplifting seconds
lost
in Friday rush hour.

Coming Home

Later today, my oldest son will come back home from college for a little while. He'll just be here overnight and then head back tomorrow. As a college junior, he is busy with homework, college activities, sports, and studying.

It made me reflect on the restorative power of going home, and how it feels even now when I step out of the car and into my old neighborhood. Sitting in the living room of family, talking about old times or catching up on friends is an almost magical potion for releasing the worries of life.

This summer, I had the chance to do that while my younger son and I went on the road to visit colleges. We mapped a route that took a short detour to my South Jersey home town, then wound its way to northeastern Ohio where some of my Dad's family lives. It was a joyful time for me and my son. He met people he had only heard about, saw places and ate things that I've described for years.

I was a new woman by the time I got home, refreshed by the outpouring of love and affection from family. I was renewed, restored.

Imagine how much more powerful it will be when we go home to God. We'll get to visit with Jesus, talk about friends and family, and feel the most enormous outpouring of love - beyond anything we can imagine, I'm sure. We will get to renew our bonds of love with family that have gone home before us, and we will bask in the no-worries, you're home feeling of heaven that God's grace has given us. When we go home to God, it will be forever and the busy-ness of our earthly lives will drop away for all time.

Tell me, what do you do to restore yourself? How do you find refreshment here on earth? And what do you look forward to the most when you go Home?

Water for God

Loyola Press has a beautiful daily 3-minute meditation that I've enjoyed for years. Today's reflection was especially meaningful to me as it described our day as a pitcher of water. It asked how much of that water do we set aside for God every day? I realized there are days when I get so busy, I have not given God any of my water. And yet, he is the "water of life" and I cannot exist without that nourishment. If I remember that the water of my body is joined to the spirit of God, and that I cannot live, eat, breathe, or do anything without it, well I would be a better person that's for sure. The Lord poured himself out for all of us. Let's remember to pour our water in God's bucket first.

Check out the meditation and let me know if you like it. Blessings!

Letting go

The other day I was talking with another woman who is very like me - a busy executive with kids in college or about to be, trying to meet the needs of parents, spouse, children, work, etc., and somewhere in there trying to take care of ourselves. We talked about how hard it has been for us to learn how to let go. But now, well into our 50s, we are finally accomplishing just that. We have learned that we cannot control the behavior of our spouse or our children, no matter how tightly we grip. Children grow up the way God intends them and it is our job to nurture them and support them along the way. Spouses are individuals with quirks, faults and wonderful qualities and if we would just stop trying to change them, we'd be a heck of a lot happier. We cannot possibly finish all of our work by the end of the work day - that ship sailed a long time ago! We can't keep our parents from getting sick or aging, and we can't keep bad things from happening to people we love. But, we can pray. The trite phrase "let go and let God" seems simplistic, but it is anything but simple to achieve that. Every day I have to pray that God helps me back off, listen, and let Him lead me. My God is a mighty God, and there is nothing He cannot do. I don't know why it takes a half a century to figure out that you can't control everything, but it seems to for a lot of women I know. As we reach mid-life, we are certainly learning the truth: God's got it.....let go.