Thankful Thought(s)

Lately I have a lot of time to think, but not a lot of hands-free time to write.  But I'd like to start recording some of the little thoughts that are polished like beach stones by the ebb and flow of my days.  Maybe someone (like you!) will appreciate them.  Many of them are things I'm thankful for:

1) In light of the recent Occupy movement, I'm really thankful that I have a husband who helped to found Street2Street, a ministry that connects Wall Street bankers with kids from the streets of NYC in real and life-changing ways.  This is NOT a ministry about "charity," but about building bridges between communities alienated from one another's needs.  It reminds me that there are men and women on Wall Street who are on God's side, even if they're working within a broken structure.

2) I've been a little convicted lately that even in my everyday habits, I have a consumer mindset. Though I try to do and buy things ethically, I've realized that on a daily basis I still have some bad habits.  For example, I tend to eat from a plate (consume) then leave that plate there instead of taking care of it right away. I am also a new mum, so I give myself grace for that, but I have always been like this.  It's just now starting to bug me. So the other day when Clint got home from school, I handed him the baby just so I could wash dishes for 30 minutes. It was good for my soul to remember that making things clean is a spiritual act.  Thank God for dirty dishes to wash.

3) Today I walked to my Thursday morning Bible Study Women@10.  It was a brilliant fall morning splashed with color and I was thankful that God made his world not just practical (leaves fall to replenish the soil for another year), but beautiful!  We all know that red is, after all, my favorite colour, along with orange and yellow. The bright leaves carpeting the sidewalks and lawns felt like God's confetti to celebrate the end of another abundantly fruitful year.  Despite drought and storm, I've had plenty to eat this year.  Perhaps this is why Rosh Hashana (Jewish New Year) is in the fall.