Thankfulness

In response to my dear friend Olivia's blogging, I will offer here my own attempt at 15 minutes of full thankfulness. Tis the season. Tis always the season for thankfulness.


I am thankful to be called. Invited. Chosen. Welcome. Included. Part of something bigger than myself.

. . . by my husband Chris. When I felt un-chosen and somewhat unwanted and left-behind, he chose me. And I am keenly aware that day after day he chooses me again and again. In fact, because he has loved me so completely this last decade-and-a-half, my first impulse to thankfulness is toward my deep sense of belonging and being wholly loved. What a tremendous gift he has given me.

. . . for my children. I think because I am an adoptive mother I have a heightened sense of the chosenness of my relationship with my children. Sure, I chose them at some point, but really, I believe I was chosen for them--and they for me. I am thankful for the ways they shape my life, my being, my identity, my interests. They have taught me about baseball and art and engineering and orthopedics. They are models for me of forgiveness and strength and flexibility. They provide me endless opportunities for pride and an equal chance at becoming patient, kind, and open-minded. They sharpen me with their questions and curiosity. I am thankful for their being--next to me, around me, within me, outside of me, other than me and completely part of me. What a gift!

. . . in my vocation. I am thankful for the diversity of my experiences that my-life-to-this-point has presented me. I have been welcomed as a colleague among educators and pastors and students and stay-at-home-moms and Mary Kay consultants. Even here, “across the pond,” I am welcomed by new-found-friends from around the globe. Accepted. Appreciated. Wanted. I am thankful.

. . . in Christ. Though listed here toward the end, I thought of this first, actually. Because from beginning to end I am thankful to be found IN Christ. To be chosen by the Lord God for communion and relationship and indwelling with and for the Triune God. I am thankful to be so minute in the vast sum of all created things, and yet SOMEONE, some part, some participation within the very Body of Christ Jesus. To be incorporated among all who are in Christ. I am thankful that my faith is not alone, that my hope and confidence is beyond myself, and that even when it wavers and falters, it is not alone. My faith is included in the faith of the Church, in the faith of Jesus of Nazareth. I am one of countless masses, and yet I am ONE.

And I have left out (though they have not left me out!) my inclusion with my parents, my extended family—the Chamberlands, my loving church family in the Church of the Nazarene and in my parish, Epworth Chapel. I am very thankful and feel very loved.

Thanks be to the one who has invited us to “Come!” Who has assured us that we did not choose him, but indeed, “I chose you!” Who enables our love because Christ “first loved us.” “Once, you were not a people, but now you are the people of God.” Thanks be to the great Choser, Welcomer, Lover, God—Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Amen.