A Bunch of Thanks

I had too much to write so I decided to jot down 12 things I’m thankful for. You can add your own too. ~ Lord I thank you for this place called The Gathering @ Estreet. It feels more like a family than a church. They help me know what compassion looks like.  It’s good.

~ Thank You that there was one seat left on the flight back from India. It got me home in time to sit with Fran in the hospital and share pictures of the place in Kolkata where my grandfather grew up, and the one place she always wanted to go. It was the last time we talked. Your timing is perfect.

~ Thank you for my little friend Ella reminding me that my sister Fran is happy now, in heaven…and that God’s happy to have her.

~ Thank you for the group of women who, though incarcerated, wrote to encourage me in this valley. You’re really everywhere God.

~ Thank you that in the darkest of times, I am never alone. Never alone. I am sure of this.

~ Thank you for the camel ride at the Taj Mahal, but if I haven’t mentioned it, thank you for my Camry.

~ Thank you that my plans didn’t work out how I wanted. Yours were better, more exciting, more fulfilling, and taught me to trust. Feel free to interrupt anytime.

~ Thank you that when I stumble and fall, and can’t go on, You send angels disguised as people who don’t always pull me right up, but sometimes just sit there with me.

~ Thank you that even though You already sent Your Son in the flesh to help us understand Your love, You’re still willing to meet us face to face through people…encouragers, prayers, visitors, even a pastor with a bowtie at a funeral for a woman he only met once.

~ Thank you that the narrow gap between the platform and the train at Newark Airport was the exact size for my Blackberry to fall down, slip through, and drop onto the tracks. Thank you that I missed my plane only to find out the next day that some guy from Port Authority found a Blackberry on the tracks… and returned it. That was pretty cool. I’ll be more careful next time.

~ Thank you for a mom and dad who, though caring for a sick daughter, decided to make 50 “God is Love” crosses for children they may never meet, in a small village in India. Some people just keep giving.

~ And before I forget, thank You for inspiring a short Albanian nun named Mother Theresa to inspire two Catholic sisters named Lynn and Nemita, to remind me that for Fran, and for us all, this world is not our home. And the truly great things are very small things done through the love of Jesus.