I'm chilly and a tad sleepy, so today I'm thankful for the Blogger app on my phone that makes it possible for me to lay all the way down in my bed, nestled under covers next to my husband as he reads, and still be able to write.
Tonight we're co-hosting a get-together dinner, so I'm thankful for a store around the corner that sells paper products, making washing dishes one thing no one has to think about.
They're small things, slight and negligible, really. That is, until the moment or day that they become useful. This is just such a day - contains just such moments - so I am thankful for all of the above.
Today I am actively grateful for the men and women my husband and I get to work alongside of in our lives of vocational ministry. We will spend the evening with these lovely folks, with no agendas other than to share a meal, laughter, conversation, and (hopefully) mutual enjoyment. I keep thinking of the ghost of Christmas Present and his persistent entreaty to "Come know me better, man!" That's the heart behind the gathering and I very much look forward to it.
Lots of the work of life can become consumed with tasks and planning, agendas and goal-achieving. And some times - a lot of times - it can resemble a triage unit, with so many emergencies and non-emergencies alike presenting all at once needing to be evaluated in order to determine their required level of care. We all can see that in our families and friendships and jobs, the "tyranny of the urgent." Ministry is no different. In the sorting, classifying, bandaging, mending, and maintainence, heart-connections are hard to come by even when there's a unified purpose. There's too much "work" to do. And those connections don't really just happen, no matter what lies we've fallen prey to that say we "fall in love" with the people in our lives. Love and relationship take effort and time and action. If the busyness of life keeps us from those things, the only possible result is hearts growing cold to each other. These days, in ever-increasing ways, the hearts of many are growing far too cold.
I think these people - these relationships - are so very worth the effort and time. Out of my gratitude for these princes and princesses among men, I take action to re-warm my own quick-to-become-cold heart by spending tonight in their company; laying aside tyrannical urgency for anything other than to know them better and to be better-known.
Maybe you should love well today someone you're grateful for. Maybe you need to throw a party, or send a message or a voicemail, or step into a coworker's office with no agenda other than to wish them well and know them better.
People are worth it.
Today, I'm grateful for the people we work with.
Love it. This is why I have opted not to attend another funeral this afternoon but rather to spend this day with the most significant person in my life -- your mom. The tyranny of the urgent pulls at me all of the time as a minister. I have given in to it too many times over the past decades. No one knows that better than you, your sister and your mom. At this point in life, I am learning not to be driven by the tyranny.
ReplyDeleteI love you, Blondie. Keep writing.
Daddy
I love that you stayed home, Daddio. I remember lots of days growing up when you would turn off the sound of tyranny and do something fun with us; check us out of school, take us to a movie, to a yummy lunch. Some of my favorite memories!
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