Lightnin' bugs, bare feet, and a challenge issued

I had a conversation recently that made me stop and think.  (I really hate it when that happens)  The subject was gratitude.  While everyone knows that I am grumpy  irritable gratitude challenged thankful in my own way, I realized this is an area of life I could definitely work on.  So, I have issued myself a gratitude challenge.  Every, single day for the next week I will post a blog about something I am thankful for.  My challenge to you, my readers, is to join me in this endeavor. 

Day 1

As I pondered just what I would post today and just what it is I am most thankful for, my mind ran the usual gamete of family and friends, life and health and such things as those.  I rejected each subject, not because I am not thankful for each of these things, but because that makes it too easy.  I could easy pick seven things right off the top of my head and declare my gratitude for each.  I am asking the Lord to open my eyes to the world around me and show me something every day that I may have overlooked.  It could be the window seat I find myself sitting in, or the fact that I come from a loud, passionate family that loves me.  It may be the way my children make me laugh till my belly hurts, or it may just be the dragonfly that I see outside the window that reflects the beauty of God in the world.  And so I pondered and I contemplated and I wandered the empty corridors of my brain for what seemed like ages as I waited for inspiration.  Then the familiar opening notes of a much-loved song were heard above my head (no, I'm not hearing things, they do play music in here, you know!) and I dodged the lightning bolt as inspiration finally made its appearance. 

I sat and listened as Ray Charles' distinctive voice, smooth as molasses and just as sweet, sang of my home state.  Georgia was on his mind and now it is on mine as well.  Having lived in different places in the country, and even in the world, I am aware of just how fortunate I am to have been born in the south.  I didn't have a perfect childhood, but really, who in the world did?  But today I choose to focus on the good, the good times, good friends, good experiences, good memories.  I am thankful to have been born into a family with both an older and a younger brother.  I am thankful my parents love me and wanted me.  I am thankful for long summer days at the pool under the hot southern sun.  I am thankful for little league and neighborhood kick-ball. I am thankful there were no computers or video games to seduce me to stay inside all day. I am thankful for fireflies (which we always called lightnin' bugs) kept in a jar over night as a night light.  I am thankful for time out in the country with my grandparents where I learned how to work in the garden and climb trees, shuck corn and shell butter

beans.  I am thankful there was always a dog or a cat and sometimes more than one of each around my house because I learned to care for things smaller than me. I am thankful for the memories of cool creeks and warm hugs, singing in the car and laughing till it hurt.  I am thankful I was lucky enough to have holidays with cousins and aunts and uncles and grandparents that loved me.  I am thankful I learned to sit on a porch quietly and watch the evening creep in as slowly and gingerly as a barefoot kid on the first day of summer.  That reminds me, I am thankful that I was barefoot more than not as I grew up in the south. 



I am thankful for where I come from.  Things weren't perfect, but things seldom are, but they are all part of who I am and who I am still becoming.  So today I choose to focus on the good things, the things I am most thankful for.  Today I will spend some time meandering among the memories of childhood adventures and family blessings.

What are you thankful for today?  What is it, big or small, that sings a melody of gratitude in your heart?  It may be a faint little tune like the sound of water from a distance creek or it may be a pounding, symphony that rocks your world.  It doesn't matter.  Whichever it is, I encourage you to take time today to stop and really listen to the music.  Learn the words to the song of gratitude your heart may be singing.  You may be surprised by just what it's saying.   And when you discover the title of your heart's song, share it with us.  Post it in the comments below or on the facebook link.  Let us share in your music of thankfulness.  You just may lift all of our spirits a little without even trying.

For now, I don't care if I am in Starbucks, I'm slipping off my shoes.  Now where did I put my lightnin' bug jar?  I know I'll need a night light tonight.......

As always I'm soaked in His blessings,
Spokenfor 

My Contentment

Dirty dusty roads that stretch for miles,
winding through acres of dense pine.
Little boys coated wth summer's heat,
a mixture of sweat, dust and pond water,
climb trees to steal little green apples.
Little girls in multi-colored sundresses
host tea parties beneath sprawling magnolias.

Pecan pie and sweet potatoes,
creamed corn and sweet iced tea,
fried okra and buttermilk with cornbread,
all tastes of my homeland.

Graceful homes on tree-lined streets,
modern condos in an uptown penthouse,
Lazy days swatting flies while sittin on the front porch,
Fast paced business deals in a downtown corner office,

Like a siren's song you call to me.
Like the air I breathe you become part of me.
Should I stray, you draw me back,and I run like
a child returning to it's mother.
Such is the hold you have on my soul.

Yesterday and tomorrow make up our today.
Taking the best from our past, mixing it
with the promise of our future.
For all this is what makes up my South,
a land of "yes ma'm, and "yall come again"
of "respect your mama" or "I'll tan your hide".

A comfortable place, content to be what it is.
It feels no need to "put on airs".
A place molded by yesterday, looking towards tomorrow.
A warm inviting place, my soft place to land.
My home, my South.