Tonight I am aware how fun it is to read what others are thankful for. The positive vibes on Facebook are evident. It is refreshing following the political season of cynicism and negativity….

And yet I wonder if we will all remain thankful after Thursday. Wouldn’t it be wonderful if we had an attitude of gratitude that extended over 365 days as opposed to 28….

I know that I do not live every day thankful, but I am keeping a thankful journal for the next year. It is imperative for me, especially during days when the struggles seem greater than the joy, for me to remember there is always something (or many things) to be grateful for, if I choose to embrace thankfulness….

There will be many names of people in my thankful journal,there will be many times when I name my gratitude for God’s grace, comfort, presence and peace. There are nights I will be thankful for heat and days I am thankful for air conditioning. Sometimes it may be as simple as shelter and food and other days as complex as gratitude for understanding  purpose to my pain….

I am not sure what thankful thoughts fill your heart today. I wonder if they are easy to name and feel tangible or if they feel elusive and difficult to put words to….

I have been in both spaces and yet I am thankful that the more I am willing to be thankful the more my thankfulness seems to grow deep roots in my heart!

And yet I know there are people who are dealing with new diagnosis of disease, newly faced addictions, daily reminders that a loved one is no longer living or deep sorrow from dreams not realized in pregnancy, adoption, employment, relationships and so much more. Please remember to be kind to those who are living difficult days and remember that at the end of their difficult day, they just might be thankful for you!

Happy Thanksgiving to all…..

I can feel my holiday angst growing within me….

I hate to admit that, after all, it isn’t even Thanksgiving…

I have started to make lists about what gifts I want to buy….

I want to be intentional about my gifts, and not start buying because I pass a good deal….

I have started to write the list of clues for gift giving.

I want to be intentional about each clue, identifying key events in the lives of my nieces and nephews over the last year…

 

I look forward to each holiday meal…

I want to be intentional about enjoying and not indulging…

I know that holidays come with family stress.  We are a large group with lots of opinions. It is wonderful almost all of the time….

I want to be intentional by breathing deeply and staying engaged….

I love the busyness and I know that if I am too busy I will not like my edginess…

I want to be intentional about my resting and my sleeping and my exercising….

and so I would guess you hear my desire and commitment….

I wonder what you plan to be intentional about during the coming weeks….

I encourage you to be specific and be intentional….and enjoy the journey!

I have been thinking alot lately about faith formation…

I think about it in light of my own world and watching my nieces and nephews grow up….

I realize that if my life had no hardships, I would have a very different faith…

I realize that if my nieces and nephews didn’t have struggles, their faith would not be forming…

It often feels out of place during this season of thankfulness to name that I am thankful for the places I have felt the most ache…

It is hard to remember that often where I have felt most alone or most abandoned is also where I have found the comfort of God’s presence, comfort and love in ways I never imagined…

Perhaps it is more socially acceptable to name places of thanksgiving that cause everyone to smile, but there are times  I would like to share more about where I have really seen my faith grow these past months…

Now these are not areas I would put on my blog for all to read tonight for they are personal spaces that are still developing. Perhaps in time I will write about them in some way, but I write tonight to invite you to consider those deep places of personal ache in your own heart. Have they been places where you have felt your faith form? Are they places that you have tested if God is listening or if people around you really care? Are they places that you have given up on God or reconnected with a wounded healer who never stopped loving you?

I hope during this week of thanksgiving you are able to thank God for bringing you to the mountain top and through the valley. I would guess that if you are living honestly there are places of amazing celebration and shattered dreams. I would imagine you may understand what it looks like to cry out in the dark and I hope you also believe that every morning brings new hope…

I have this tattoo on the top of my  foot and it reminds me on good days and bad, in the valley and on the mountain that Jesus died on the cross because He loves me and because of that deep love and forgiveness, I am able to love freely! I am very thankful for this….

I am not sure what you are thankful for this year, but I am thankful for the faith formation in my own life and in the lives of those I hold very dear, even when it is painful!

Tonight I was touched deeply while observing To Be Certain of the Dawn at the Grand Rapids Symphony….

There was power in the symphony instruments that often set the tone,

There was power in the words of the adult voices that sang  “Jews may not attend school, Jews may not dream and Jews may not imagine….”

There was power in the Youth Symphony which has voices of children singing songs of hope…

There was power in the silence….

There was power in the very long applause that honored the work of many….

I was left with words of survivors…

“Why did I survive? the Rabbi said: “God kept you on earth to tell the story.” Henry Oertelit

“I have lived in a world with no children…I would never live in a world of no children again.” Hindu Kibort

“This is the task: in the darkest night to be certain of the dawn, certain of the power to turn a curse into a blessing, agony into song…” Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel

 

 

I have the privilege to accompany my 14 year old niece Karolyn to the Czech Republic this summer with this amazing group, also known as the Grand Rapids Youth Symphony Chorus. I am looking forward to listening and learning tomorrow night at the Grand Rapids Symphony performance. I am so thankful Karolyn has this opportunity to use her amazing gift of music, combined with a community of people with a shared interest, to travel the world and commemorate a very tragic historical event.

I am thankful tonight for family who love adventure, music that communicates what words often can not, and opportunities that invite many people to be shaped in ways that will likely never be forgotten!

The Grand Rapids Symphony Chorus marks fifty years with a heartbreaking Holocaust oratorio

Published: Monday, November 12, 2012, 9:14 AM

I love this kid…

He is talkative, charming, witty, smart, engaging, entertaining, persistent, athletic, compassionate, confident, goofy, competitive and so much more…

Noah is the second born of my oldest brother…

I love Noah’s ability to be comfortable in his own skin and I love how he has a way of being so Noah….

When he is being so Noah he makes me smile and shake my head at the same time. He has a twinkle in his eye and a grin on his face, but his heart is so tender….

Noah has a way of being in touch with another person’s interests and world….

He will offer to help, sit and converse, give a hug and an I love you and when I have been with Noah I am left admiring the amazing kid he is…

This sweet nephew of mine is 14 today (even though his Facebook says he is 107)….

He is a delightful son (his parents will say), an admired brother, a popular cousin, a fabulous friend and one of the best nephews….

He is a kid I will always love and long to spend time with….

He is a kid I will pray for till he really is 107….although that would make me 149….

He is a kid I wish you all knew, for he would make you smile from ear to ear and cause your heart to swell in delight.

I love you Noah Wyatt and marvel at God’s grand design of you. I am thankful he chose our family for you….

May this year be filled with wonder and delight, winning teams and high scoring games, laughter, love, not too many tears, growth in character, smarts, spirit and kindness and much laughter…

Love you much,

Aunt Trish

Tonight we celebrated my Dad’s 73rd birthday…

It was a fun night of laughter, conversation, and a good meal….

We all know that he doesn’t really need much (if anything) as a gift, but we had fun getting him a few of his favorite things…

Suzi wrote a fun poem for gift presentation and she reminded him in the end that he is one of our favorite things….and he is!

I am thankful to be blessed with a father in good health and who continues to awaken each morning ready to encounter the day…

I am thankful to be blessed with a father who moves into difficult spaces and has an understanding and acceptance that life is hard sometimes…

I am thankful to be blessed with a father who smiles often and can laugh until he cries…

I am thankful to be blessed with a father who isn’t reactive to big life events (like elections) because he is confident above all else that God is on His Throne….

I am thankful to be blessed with a father who not only has traveled to many places of the world, but embraced God’s people all over the world. He is loved and respected by many in many countries and that is very inspiring to me…

I am thankful for a father who has made an impact in many places, including far away lands, the Church, his community and his family!

I am thankful for another day and a very special day, the day my Dad was born. A day we celebrate, thanking God for his goodness, presence and provision over the last 73 years of living and (almost) 50 years of marriage.

There is much to celebrate!

Happy Birthday Dad, you are loved, enjoyed and delighted in often!

We all love you!  May this year bring you much joy adventure, rest and peace!

Much love to you,

Trish

I recently posted the following on Facebook in order to appeal to my nieces and nephews for their Christmas list…

If you call me Aunt Trish, I would like to receive your top 5 Christmas list wishes in the next week or so please…..

I love Christmas with this bunch…

I love thinking about what they like…

I love receiving their lists…

I love picking out their gifts…

I love writing clues for our gift giving…

and I love it when they open each gift…

I just love each of them, their smiles, their joys, their passions, their laughter, their tears, their hearts for others and so much more…

The lists are coming in….

They make me smile….

From Branacqulers (binoculars) and teneshoes (tennis shoes) to perfume and hoodies, basketball socks or a horse…

They are the simple wishes of a great group of kids….

I hope your holiday season will hold much joy and that you will be able to bring delight to those who communicate their simple wishes to you!

I want to be a good joy receiver and a great joy giver in the coming weeks…..I hope the same for you!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I read this quote this morning and it stuck with me all day….

I wonder how often you consider giving up…

I wonder if you are aware of when the thought of giving up creeps into your thoughts….

I wonder if you are aware of what (or who) you might want to give up on…

I wonder how your life might be different if you heeded the simple direction given here….DON”T

I wonder what tasks might be completed that perhaps still are unfinished…

I wonder what goals might be reached that perhaps you are still chasing…

I wonder what relationships would look different because you were willing to remain committed and push through the times you were wanting to give up….

So much to wonder about….

So much to hope for…

A small word with big meaning.

I will carry it with me when I want to give up….DON’T

Do you ever have it when you are in a good routine and for whatever reason, it is interrupted?

I find that in a few areas of my life right now.

I miss my routines…

I think about restarting my routines…

I plan to restart my routine…

And yet each day I end my day wondering why I didn’t restart my routine…

And so today is a new day…and I am writing again.

I have some catching up to do…

I have two birthday tributes to write…

Life has twisted and turned in the past months…

I have laughed much and cried some in the past months…

I have made plans to travel and I have made wonderful changes to my home that reinforce that there is no place like home…

And so, I am back to writing daily…

Thank you to so many of you who communicated to me that you missed me…

But most of all, I look forward to documenting all my life holds…from the daily mundane to the wild adventures. I believe that some day they will be shared with the children of the children of my siblings children and maybe there will be a story or two of Aunt Trish’s life and God’s incredible goodness…

Until tomorrow…