Today I Give Thanks for Those Who Stand Up for Justice

Today I give thanks for those who stand up for justice.  Illinois Gov. Pritzker is one of those.  Please watch Gov. Pritzker on CNN https://www.cnn.com/2025/01/26/politics/video/sotu-pritzker-on-planned-chicago-immigration-raids – and please write to New York State Gov. Hochul or your own state’s/commonwealth’s governor and ask them to follow Pritzker’s lead. 

Beginning Jan. 21, helicopters have been making a dozen or so daily swoops overhead here on the north coast of Puerto Rico. Friends tell us that ICE has been rounding up people in San Juan. 

Back home in Rochester, schools are spending enormous amounts of time determining who can and who cannot be admitted to their buildings, time they need for children's learning.

It is one thing to deport those non-citizens who break the law, it is another thing to use those people as an excuse to expel non-citizens who are law-abiding members of our communities.  It is one thing for our elected officials to follow the law; it is another thing entirely for elected officials to break the laws of our land, laws that unite us into a great nation.

Today I Give Thanks for Time

 

Today I give thanks for the time that defines my existence here on earth.  Without the clear boundaries of time that established my birth – and that at some point will define my death – life could easily become a meaningless meandering here and there and nowhere at all!

 

The difficulty is HOW can we live as though we will live to be 120 and yet at the same time understand that we could die tomorrow – maybe even in the next hour?  Recent longevity research shows that people live longer and healthier if their lives have purpose.  Yet how can we find purpose within such an ill-defined timeframe? 

 

Perhaps death doula Alua Arthur can help.  She explains how thinking about death will help us live a better life, however long that life is.  When approached with a decision, we can use her “deathbed test” to help us determine which action to take. This test consists of three questions: On my deathbed, will I be mad I did it? Will I be sad I didn’t do it? Will it even matter?  According to Arthur, the majority of our decisions never pass the muster of these three questions.

 

What would happen if we began using this test – especially for the difficult decisions so many of us are facing right now?  Difficult decisions such as:  What can I do to counter current narratives trashing LGBTQ people, non-Christians, people of color, immigrants, people who are differently abled?   How can I speak out against hate?  What concrete steps can I take to help bring about Dr. King’s “beloved community”?

 

On my own deathbed, will I be mad that I spoke out?  Will I be sad if I just ignore what’s going on in the world around me?  And will any actions I take actually matter?  As I determine the next best steps that I can take, these are the questions that will help guide me.

 

Today I give thanks for the time that defines my existence here on earth and pray that my actions within my given time will make a difference.

Today I Give Thanks for Little Lives

Thankful Everyday 1-24-25

https://thankfulevery.blogspot.com/

 

Today I give thanks for those little lives, which seem to hold all kinds of big lessons for my own life.

 

Yesterday, I was at the beach watching the enormous waves cascade over rocks on their way to the shore when I happened to glance down.  Wiggle, wiggle, wriggle, wriggle.  A tiny piece of something – a rock, a clump of sand? - seemed to be moving…squiggle, squiggle.  I scrunched down closer and saw that it was some kind of tiny animal carrying a shell on its back – maybe a snail?  A closer look suggested that this was some type of teensy crab.  Maybe this is a very, very small hermit crab?

 

I dug into my backpack, pulled out my phone, and quickly clicked off several frames, hoping that the little creature was somewhere in my shot.  Got it!  Before it slipped away across the sand, I knew I had caught an image.  But it wasn’t until I cropped one of the photos this morning that I realized how beautiful this animal’s shell was, with its black and pale gray zig-zag pattern.  It reminds me of a Navajo basket my grandmother kept on a shelf in my grandfather’s study, eye-catching in its contrast with the books and medical instruments that lined every other shelf in their Iowa home.

 

And there it was, decades later, the same pattern right at my feet – in miniature!  What you see on your computer screen is probably much bigger than the original.   A quarter inch work of art, carried on the back of its scruffy owner, moving forward diligently, continuously, persistently.  Even as the seagulls swooped all around, the tide moved inward, and the huge waves crashed not far away.  Who knows where that little crab was going?  Who knows what’s next for that little crab dragging along the work of its lifetime? 

 

What other masterpieces are out there in my everyday life that I don’t take the time to observe?  What would life be like if I focused my eyes on the little moments of beauty right there at my feet?  Maybe these little lives could show me how to keep going, too, even as the big world around me seems to be tumbling down.

 

Today I give thanks for little lives that infuse my own life with their beauty and persistence.

 

 

Today I Give Thanks for Nature's Surprises

 

Today I give thanks for nature’s surprises.

 

The “big buzz” began at about 7:30, immediately after our supper.  We tried to find the source.  In one of the bedrooms?  Out the back door?  The kitchen door?  No.  It appeared to be coming from the front door.  And it was loud!  “We’re never going to be able to get to sleep tonight,” my husband complained.  He was so right!

 

The attached video of the front door includes the buzz – but at about 1/30th the volume of the original.  Rick opened and closed the door more tightly.   The buzz stopped for a moment, and then it began again.  When he went outdoors, again it stopped for a few seconds, but then it started over, louder than ever.

 

I messaged the owner of the house we’re renting.  I described it as a high-pitched electrical buzzing, akin to an electric shortage.  I asked if there was an alarm system attached to the front door – something we might have never noticed – maybe it was shorting out?

 

No, she replied.  There was no alarm system, nothing like that.  She was trying to imagine what it could be.  Finally, she asked if I could send a video, which I did (see below). 

 

Later, I could only imagine her laughter.  “Marcy,” she texted back, “It’s a cricket.  Turn on the outside light.  They don’t like bright lights.  If it happens to continue, just sprinkle water around the grass near the door.”

 

“A cricket!” I wrote back.  “This is a much different sound from the crickets I grew up with in Indiana!”

 

Her reply came back immediately and included a laughter emoji.  “Marcy, that’s the Puerto Rican cricket’s love song!”

 

Apparently having failed at his amorous overtures, our Puerto Rican cricket had already moved on.  The night was silent again.  We turned out the lights and listened to the quiet before falling into a deep sleep.

 

Today I give thanks for nature’s surprises, surprises that can provide amusement and laughter – and never-ending opportunities for curiosity and learning, too.

Today I Give Thanks for Matthew 25

 Today I give thanks for Matthew 25, Jesus’ instruction manual for how to live our lives in difficult times.

 

There are three parts to this chapter.  First, the parable of the bridesmaids that warns us to stay awake.  We are instructed not to check out, opt out, or sleep on the job.

 

The second part is the parable of the talents. The lesson here is that we must use what we’re been given and increase it, not hide our God-given gifts away because we’re afraid. 

 

And why are we to remain awake?  What are we to use the gifts we’ve been given for?

 

Jesus provides us with a remarkably clear guide:

 35for I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me, 36 I was naked and you clothed me, I was sick and you visited me, I was in prison and you came to me.’ 37 Then the righteous will answer him, ‘Lord, when did we see thee hungry and feed thee, or thirsty and give thee drink? 38 And when did we see thee a stranger and welcome thee, or naked and clothe thee? 39 And when did we see thee sick or in prison and visit thee?’ 40 And the King will answer them, ‘Truly, I say to you, as you did it to one of the least of these my brethren, you did it to me.’

 

This is the time to take care of one another.  This is the time to recognize the hungry, the naked, the stranger, those suffering from disease, and those imprisoned.  This is not the time to turn away or chase them away.  This is the time to see one another’s humanity clearly and to do the work we are called to do – here and now.  No matter how angry we are.  No matter how scared we are.  No matter what.

 

Today I give thanks for Matthew 25, Jesus’ little instruction book, and I pray to have the wisdom and the courage to follow it.

Today I Give Thanks for People Who Inspire Me

 Today I give thanks for people who inspire me. One of those people is Carrie Newcomer, a wonderful musician and poet, whose newsletter really moved me today. I'm going to quote it and also include a link to her website below. I hope you find her words as inspiring as I do:

“The significance—and ultimately the quality—of the work we do is determined by our understanding of the story in which we are taking part.” —Wendell Berry

My daughter, Amelia, was a very precocious little girl and an exuberant early talker. By exuberant I mean, non-stop-run-on-stunningly-astute-commentary-in-surprisingly-grown-up-language-about-anything-and-everything-she-was-thinking-about-or noticing-around-her-or-within-her-in-that-particular-moment. By the time she was two and a half years old, random people near us in the grocery check out line, who overheard my daughter’s ongoing narration, would look at me quizzically and ask, “How old IS that child?” She loved ideas and thoughts and stories and language from the very beginning. One of the games we would play was called “add on stories” in which I would start with a phrase “Once upon a time there was a little girl and—” Amelia would take up the thread and add her own piece of the story, “and and and she was a princess and artist and dancer and a paleontologist and one day she found a puppy and—”. I would respond with “and the puppy was as big as a small pony, but very sweet and well behaved for such a very young dog, and the puppy said to the little girl….” You get the idea. I loved those add on stories and how they would wind around and go all kinds of unexpected places —remember this is the same child that at three years old told me that for Halloween she wanted to dress as a fairy with real wings or NPR’s Linda Wertheimer. Anyway, I loved that the stories we created were on-going and often based in the stuff of our real lives and yet infused with the power of our imaginations, our dreams and sometimes longings.

Human beings, we love stories. We live our lives through the stories we tell, the stories we hold dear, the stories we let go—and the stories we tell or hold or lift up or value can shift our perception or frame our reality. Stories matter.

Tomorrow on January 20th, there will be two stories presented. January 20th is our national holiday celebrating the birthday of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., a day when many communities, like my own, will celebrate the stories of resilience, the spirit of service and the power of living into a deep and abiding love-ethic. We will be honoring the stories of those who worked for justice and the dignity of all people, as well as ongoing movements for a better world based in love, animated by love and lifted up to greater expressions of love. On Monday we honor stories that are real and lasting, stories of hope and faithfulness, of courage and deeply ethical living.

I think it is important to say clearly that our celebration of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s life is not a story that ended after his tragic assassination in 1968, but instead essentially one of our greatest and most honorable “add on stories”. We honor the work that has come before, we take humble and grateful insight from those who have faced enormous challenges and suffering and did not quit - even in the face of grievous cost. In terms of the concept of power, Dr. King wrote, “Power at its best is love implementing the demands of justice, and justice at its best is power correcting everything that stands against love.” We decide the kind of power we choose to believe in, and the power we hope to build upon each in our own way, through our own daily actions.

There will be another very different story presented on Monday January 20th. There will be a new president who has based his entire life and political career on self serving opportunism, a man who has used fear, hate, division and deceit as simply a way of grasping and holding power. This is a man who promotes a story that would deepen and strengthen the worst “isms” of our society.

To be sure, this is the beginning of a new and dangerous regime, but it is an old story that is essentially unoriginal and without the kind of true power Dr. King described. In the story of this new regime, there is no room for anything that is truly expansive, no room for our highest values, no room for the good we can imagine and then create, there is no room for spiritual growth, only spiritual decay.

And so we choose, although I imagine for many of us, it is a choice we made long ago and now reaffirm. We choose the kind of story in which we will participate, the story that we want to ground our lives and actions. We choose the story that we would like to be a part of, to add-on, expand and support. We can choose a story that lifts us all, that empowers us all, and that holds dear the long arc of justice, that removes and corrects “ everything that stands against love.”

I remember the first time I drove across the Great Plains and how it felt watching a huge storm cloud coming in from miles away. In the weeks since the November election I’ve thought often of that storm cloud, and now its here. In the coming months and years we are going to need to hold close the stories that keep us resilient and bold. We are going to need the stories that help us to embrace what is so beautiful and joyous in our lives. We are going need to help one another remember that the some of the most powerful stories often have moments where events go someplace we did not expect — taking us to beautiful places astonishing in their sense of hallelujah—or sometimes to places where our dreams were undone, only to be found again, rediscovered, picked up and carried forward.

We are going to need one another because the add-on story we are choosing to participate in, the story of revolutionary love we stand beside, is not ours to carry alone, but a story we carry together, that we will keep telling, keep reimaging and co-creating, We can do this hard thing…yes we can.

Here's the link:

https://open.substack.com/pub/carrienewcomer/p/add-on-stories-and-the-stories-we?r=l4ds9&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=email

Today I Give Thanks for Winter Flowers

 

Today I give thanks for winter flowers. 

 

There it was.  Right there on the patio.  In a pot of hibiscus that I mistakenly thought was just about dead.  Suddenly this morning, a bright red hibiscus was blooming on the end of a branch that had somehow come back alive and vibrant again.  Big and showy with true pizazz and attitude!  It nearly shouted, “Look at me!  I’m still here – and I’m absolutely gorgeous!

 

All of us are getting older.  Wiser, yes.  But older all the same.  And whenever we feel the ticking of the clock in our bones, it’s easy to question the past – our choices, our careers, our relationships, indeed, sometimes our entire lives.  Those of us who are truly old in years and decades may even ask ourselves, “What in the heck am I still doing here anyway?” 

 

Can we, like the nearly dead hibiscus, have another flowering?  Another time for doing good in this world?  And, if so, how do we get started?  Do we have to go out and get a job or volunteer every day of the week?  Must we become saints?

 

OK, let’s not get ahead of ourselves here.  No self-help books or podcasts.  We can start by heeding the words of meditation teacher Joseph Goldstein, who described just two things that have made the biggest difference in his own life:  Reflecting immediately on which actions made him feel better or worse, and then discovering that acting generously in the moment made him feel best.    (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7_oMC_h4xCw)

 

Simply put, Goldstein does his best to act immediately on generous impulses when they arise.  He’s not trying to be a better person or a nicer person; instead, he’s doing what makes him feel best.  Most of us are nice people, and these generous impulses arise naturally.  Usually, however, we think we will do them later - right after we finish these twelve other things.  How difficult would it be to turn this feeling into behavior right away and simply follow through immediately on our generous impulses?

 

I’ll be trying this over the next couple of months and will let you know how it goes.  As Kate Bowler reminded us in her newsletter (katebowler.com):  Sometimes, trying is just surviving with style.  What better way to “survive with style” than to act on generous impulses?

 

Today I give thanks for winter flowers that show us that we, like plants, can survive with style!

Today I Give Thanks for Birds

 

 

Today I give thanks for birds, specifically the seagulls shown here catching some early morning sunshine on the side of these incredible rock formations that jut out into the Atlantic Ocean.  This photo really doesn’t do them justice at all, but maybe by squinting right at the middle of the rocks, you can get a sense of what I saw when I woke up this morning.  We needed our binoculars to get a good look at the hundreds of white birds that, from a distance, resembled a light coat of snow on these tropical outcroppings.

 

What I love about seagulls is how they glide so gracefully over the waves and sand, rising on the wind, then divebombing to scoop up a morsel of fish – or cookie crumbs discarded by children as they raced into the sea.  Dancing for their dinners, swirling and swooping and twirling around, they put on a beautiful show before screaming raucously as they fight each other over the remains of tourists’ picnics.

 

And isn’t this what we humans are like, too?  Imperceptible from far away, creating our own little dances and dives, and then swooping down with curses as we seek to get our own needs satisfied?  Today I give thanks for the birds, who remind me of both the best and the most challenging aspects of being human.

 

Today I give thanks for mending.  I sat down this morning and did something that I rarely do.  I mended the tiny holes in several summer t-shirts and tank tops that I brought with me on vacation.  Apparently, I had put them away at the end of the summer, probably thinking I would worry about mending them later.  Then later I simply packed them in my suitcase, completely forgetting my intentions from summer.  It turns out they were unwearable!

 

Discovering a small sewing kit tucked away in the house we rented, I vowed to take action.  Of course, it took about ten days before I worked up the motivation to actually mend my clothing.  Why does it always take me so long to get around to such a small task?

 

Match thread to garment.  Cut a length. Twist the end of the thread with a bit of spit, then thread it through the eye of the needle.  Surprisingly, I found I only neeed the needle threader a couple of times.  After that, I could squint up my old eyes and get the thread through the teensy hole.  Amazing!

 

Back and forth, in and out, checking for frayed edges and for threads showing on the garment’s front.  My grandmother first taught me to mend – and to darn socks, using a wooden egg underneath for proper fit.  She also taught me to embroider and even to make my own clothes.  I rarely bought any clothing for the first eighteen years of my life.  Not even prom dresses or bathing suits!  Yet I haven’t sewn a piece of clothing in well over a decade – maybe even two decades.

 

There are so many tasks like this in life, aren’t there?  Things we don’t mind doing – or even enjoy doing – that we just put aside, thinking that maybe someday we will get back to them.  Mending a tear, sewing on a missing button, fixing a hem properly (not with scotch tape or stapes!), embroidering a flower, taking the time and effort to make a blouse or a pair of simple pants.  None of these are hard, yet how often do we do them?  They just don’t fit neatly onto my calendar – 9am: Patch jeans.

 

I also got to thinking about other kinds of creating and mending.  Creating friendships and communities among our neighbors, friends, and relatives.  Mending relationships with those we have hurt or lost touch with.  Why is it that these tasks, which are genuinely enjoyable, take so long to get around to?   Perhaps, just like my sewing tasks, they don’t fit neatly onto a to-do list –  2pm: Make a new friend, 4pm: Build community.

 

Today I give thanks for mending, for both the time to remember the past and my grandmother’s lessons and the time to reflect on those things, like friendship and community, that are most important for the future.

Today I Give Thanks for Those Working to Make the World Better

 

 

Today I Give Thanks for Those Working to Make the World Better…One Step at a Time

 

Yesterday afternoon I heard an interview with Chip Carter, who was asked how his father should be remembered.  He said, “As a wonderful human being…who made this world a better place than when he found it.”

 

I’ve been reflecting on this statement and believe that Jimmy (and Rosalyn) Carter did not just wake up one day after his humiliating 1980 presidential reelection loss and decide to change the whole world.  I really don’t think Jimmy set out to become the best ex-president that we’ve ever had.  Instead, I suspect that the Carters work up each day determined to do what they could that very day to make the world better than when they opened their eyes – teaching Bible studies, running the peanut business, interacting with family and helping friends and neighbors. 

 

They probably then found agencies that could use their help, like Habitat for Humanity.  Ultimately, they also discovered problems that deserved to be worked on and desperately needed funding, such as eradication of the guinea worm, and that was the point when they opened the Carter Center to focus attention and funding on these needs.  One thing led to another until their efforts truly did change the world – as well as their family, friends, and neighbors.

 

What could I do if I woke up each day and tried to do just a little something to make the world better?  What would the world be like if every one of us decided to make the world just a little bit better than when we found it today?  What would it take to do that?  And where might such small, simple actions lead us?

 

I don’t have a crystal ball.  I can’t say for sure what will happen, but I’m willing to give it a try.  Changing the whole world feels overwhelming, but taking small, simple steps?  That I can do.  How about you?  Care to join me?

 

Today WE Give Thanks for Beaches

 

 

Today WE give thanks for beaches.  My great-niece Angelina is especially thankful for the beaches here in Puerto Rico during her holiday break.  She says, “They are great for playing and having fun and for making new friends.”

 

So today, my co-author, Angelina, and I are both very grateful that we have had so many wonderful days together with family and friends at beaches all over the place!  Some beaches even have showers – which are terrific for cleaning off sand after many hours in the surf.  Other beaches have food trucks with great empanadas and cold fruit drinks.  And some even have guys that come around to sell water ice (piragua) in flavors like coconut, passion fruit (parcha) or rainbow.

 

Adults can sit and relax on the beach, and they can watch the children play.  What could be more fun than that?  And…since there are also sometimes people selling piña coladas or mojitos in pouches, adults can even have their cocktail hour right there on the beach.

 

Today I Give Thanks for Imperfection

 

Thankful Everyday 1-1-25

https://thankfulevery.blogspot.com/

 

Today I give thanks for imperfection.  Because sometimes imperfection is more than we give it credit for – and who wants to be perfect anyway?  Author Rachel Naomi Remen even calls perfection “the booby prize.” 

 

Just now an email arrived from Kate Bowler (katebowler.com), who has a newsletter and a podcast devoted to “giving you permission to feel human… I am determined to create a gentler world for everyone who wants to admit that they are not always ‘living their best life.’”

 

Here’s what Professor Kate also says:

Welcome to Try January—a month of weekly love notes for anyone who's trying. Not transforming. Not crushing it. Just…trying. January usually swans in with all its sparkle and self-improvement slogans (new year, new you, yadda yadda), but what if we skipped the makeover? What if the goal wasn’t perfection but something much braver: showing up, being real, and finding a little joy in the beautiful, chaotic mess of it all?

 

So today I’m going to skip the makeovers.  No, I’m not really interested in how to reduce my belly fat, get rid of the bags under my eyes, or boost my Facebook profile.  I’m going to give thanks for imperfections – my own and those of everyone around me.  At least for today…