Saturday, November 24, 2012

Breathing in Turkey, Breathing out Thanks

The turkey has been eaten.  My Nana's famous dressing is all gone.  Family and friends are safely home.  And tomorrow another blanket of leaves will crunch beneath our feet...

But I cannot let November slip away without at least one blog!  Life has been busy, fun, challenging, exciting, and nonstop since I last wrote.  I sit tonight by the warmth of a fire, and surrounded by 2 sleeping pups and a hot-chocolate-drinking Jeff...and I wait.  I wait for inspiration to find me and take me by surprise.  I wait for creativity to come out of nowhere and smack me out of my comfortable place.  I wait....

As I write these words I see myself tiptoeing toward the familiar illustration of this time of year...As a minister, it's only right...I wait.  A season of Advent-waiting is upon us....As Christians, we wait for the birth of Jesus.

Ah! - but this year we have some "in between" time.  Yes, we have a whole week between the turkey of Thanksgiving and that first purple candle of the Advent wreath.  This year...we have to wait before we can wait!

And yet, as "technical"as this can seem...when are we not searching for that ounce of inspiration or that sliver of creativity?  When do our hearts not long for God in some simple yet powerful way?  I am glad we have some days before the beginning of Advent, because I want to think some more about the season of gratitude that has just passed us.  Life has been so busy that I haven't taken the right amount of time to be silent and to listen.  I've had coffee every morning, but I haven't had coffee with God very much in November.  My mornings have been filled with hectic shuffling from one thing to the next - before, during, and after the day's work.  Too often this year I have forgotten how much I love Thanksgiving and the spiritual attitude it encourages from us - not just one day, but all year 'round.

And so tonight...on this quiet November evening...I am thankful for the silence.  For the small sounds of two pups breathing and for the life that Jeff & I are journeying together.  I am thankful for the laughter of my family and the commitment of good friends.  I am thankful that my job is one that helps people find the Holy within themselves, and within the world.

Tonight I stop to breathe in these moments and to thank the mysterious God who breathes new life into me.  Amen.