Thursday, April 29, 2010

9th Thankful Thursday: Small and Simple

I'm grateful for my fingers. All ten of them. One of them has a boo-boo, and has left only nine available fingers for some activities. What a difference it made! I'm glad I've only had to temporarily "lose" the activity of one digit instead of losing a whole appendage to realize this.

I'm also grateful I'll have all ten available to type the last big paper of the year. :)

This week: What seemingly small and simple thing are you grateful for today?

Thursday, April 22, 2010

8th Thankful Thursday: Family

We've been blessed with gorgeous weather the past two days. Low gray clouds, wind, and some of my favorite smells. If someone could replicate the honeyed freshness of rain, including a whiff of damp barn smell (dewy, clean barns smell sweet, not foul) that reminds me of home, and make it just as penetrating as the real deal... I'd be their first customer.

It took me a while to identify the barn smell. When I did, I got a bit homesick...

I miss my family. Here are a few reasons why I love them and are thankful for them:

Thursday, April 15, 2010

7th Thankful Thursday: Inspirational Quotes

Quotes can be powerfully personal. Sometimes a quote is more meaningful at one particular point in time than at others. But I think most people have some favorites that inspire them to be and do better.

Here are several I've come across recently:

"My dear sisters, do not pray for tasks equal to your abilities, but pray for abilities equal to your tasks. Then the performance of your tasks will be no miracle, but you will be the miracle."
--President Thomas S. Monson, current President and Prophet of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints

Thursday, April 8, 2010

6th Thankful Thursday: Occurrences of a Wonderful Nature

Different names include: stoke of luck, coincidences, tender mercies, blessings, miracles... I think it depends on the beneficiary's beliefs and perceived magnitude of the occurrence.

I have three to name today:

Thursday, April 1, 2010

5th Thankful Thursday--Visionaries

In one of my classes yesterday, the student leading discussion asked the question, "Is it worth working towards sustainability when, hundreds of years from now, people might not care?"

I had one of those lightning strikes of personal application. Every year, my grandpa spends hundreds of dollars buying trees to reforest parts of the family cattle ranch. He is planting for me, his great-grandkids, his great-great-grandkids... most of whom he won't know during this lifetime.

He does this even though he distresses that no one will care after he is gone.

I am so grateful he does it anyway. Because if everything does work out, the ranch will be even more beautiful than it is today. All because of him and what he is trying so hard to do.

This week: In your life, who is a visionary you are grateful for? Why?