Be Thou My Vision

Today I sit in a hospital beside the bed of my 89 year old Daddy.  Until a few days ago he was a fiercely independent, proud, and strong man despite his age.  He drove everywhere, lived alone, and took care of himself very competently.  But in a matter of a few minutes, he was reduced to one totally dependent and unable to care for himself.  A stroke will do that.  For now he has been robbed of even the ability to speak or swallow and those of us that love him begin a journey into uncharted territory and we have more questions than answers.  Over the past few months I had embarked on the 1000 Gifts challenge.  Name 1000 gifts.  Count the blessings.  See the graces.  Write them down.  Practice gratitude.  On a good day it’s easy.  Grace abounds.  Blessings are everywhere I look.  From the simplest to the greatest, I saw and wrote.  Once you begin to see the more you see.  The challenge comes in see...

TGIF.  How often do we hear that?  Thank God it’s Friday.  For years I’ve been hearing this expression by friends, family, co-workers, and even on the daily news.  Seems like it’s a unanimous feeling.  We all look forward to the weekend when we supposedly don’t work and when “all the fun stuff” happens.   The general consensus from almost everyone I know is that we are all looking forward to something in the future, something else, something different.  The only problem with the TGIF mentality is that it takes our focus off the days we spend in the between times.  Seems like most of us spend the majority of our time just drifting thru the “other” days and anticipating the next thing whether it be the weekend, or the holiday, or event.   Thus our so-called mundane days in-between fail to be fulfilling, fail to bless others, and fail to bring us a sense of satisfaction.  Then the ones we've looked so forward to fail to meet...