The Learning Curve of Gratitude

I really enjoy listening to NPR. There are people in my conservative Christian past that would cringe that I would like “liberal media”.

“Liberal” or “conservative” … who the heck cares? NPR is thoughtful radio that tells stories rather than just reporting the news. I love a good story.

One of my favorite features on NPR is a segment called “This I Believe”. Varieties of people write short essays about their deepest held beliefs and then read them on the air. I do not agree with what everyone writes. Who would? But I am struck by what people hold dear at the core of their being.

Sunday’s addition was written and read by Mary Chapin Carpenter about what she has learned from a recent illness. It is called “The Learning Curve of Gratitude” I resonate with what she says:

What I want more than ever is to appreciate that I have this day, and tomorrow and hopefully days beyond that. I am experiencing the learning curve of gratitude.

Go listen here (and hurry it's good) --> link

Words from Ecclesia

Tonight Andrea and I went to Ecclesia. As the service progressed I wrote down words that spoke to the part of the journey I currently find myself on:

Prone to wander Lord I feel it
Prone to leave the God I love
Here’s my heart Lord take and seal it
Seal it for Thy courts above

Oh my God shine your light on us
That we might live

“ … their god is their stomach …”
– Philippians 3:19
(I think my god is in my stomach as I seek to satisfy my sensual desires. )

I hoard for myself thinking God’s well will run dry. (How stupid of me).

Ecclesia is such a sacred place for me. I always leave knowing I’ve brushed up against Divinity. What I do with what I experienced there is up to me and I have to admit that in that I sometimes fail to make the best of it.

Lightly or tightly?

Love will fly if held too lightly
Love will die if held too tightly
Lightly, tightly, how do I know
Whether I’m holding or letting love go?

- Oscar Wilde

Strengths Finder

I took a strengths finder test recently to determine my strengths. It is amazing to me that someone could devise a test that takes 20 minutes and describes my personality fairly well.

Am I that simple? I’m sure Andrea (my wife) would say “Most definitely!”

Anyway, without going into the five strengths they say I have, here are some words and phrases in the strengths descriptors used to describe me:

Think, mental activity that may be focused or lack focus, time alone, muse, reflect, introspective, my own best companion who loves own company, inquisitive, adding info to the archives, learner, journey from ignorance to competence, adult learning experiences, careful, vigilant, private, serious, reserved, anticipate what might go wrong, do not give too much praise or recognition ...

Some are most definitely true but others I wonder about. I may be on the earliest portions of the journey from ignorance to competence but I am enjoying the trip.