Monday, March 01, 2010

Grateful Monday

Monday again! I thought the beginning of a new school/work week, combined with the beginning of a new month, seemed like a great time for a gratitude post.

Right now I'm grateful for:

38. An insight, and some sabbath time yesterday (including a nap). The insight was spoken a couple of weeks ago by my pastor in his Sunday sermon. He was speaking of rest and talked of the importance of working from rest, not merely resting from work. It's helped me rethink through how I look at Sundays as the first day of the week, a day to find rest and refreshment and renewal and to look ahead, not just a day to recuperate.

39. The Olympics. Given all our t.v. "issues" we didn't think we'd get to watch them, but we managed to get a hiccupy NBC and were so glad we did. I've always loved the Olympics and have some wonderful childhood memories of watching them with my family. The sweet girl's seven year old imagination was entirely seized by the wonderful athletes and events, not to mention the sheer spectacle of the ceremonies and the fun things she got to learn about Canada (where dear friends recently moved, which made the information and scenes seem all the more pertinent). She's been drawing bobsledders and "skating" around the kitchen for days (to "Swan Lake" -- what's even more fun is she makes her Dad skate around too, as her partner!) and has even created a neat set of multi-colored Olympic rings from construction paper, currently taped to a kitchen drawer. We'll miss Vancouver!

40. Lessons that flow so naturally from watching the Olympics. Like "someone has to finish in 18th place." And "18th place still means you're 18th best in the world at your sport." And the difference between events that require speed and those that require endurance. And on and on.

41. Library sales. We only picked up a few things at this last sale, but some of them were gold, including a beautiful recording, from 1940, of Beethoven's 9th symphony on CD. It's a piece of music I've often wished I owned, so to find such a lovely rendition for $2 (pricey for a sale, but still a bargain!) was wonderful.

42. March! Oh yes, March! We've still got literal piles of snow on the ground, and I'm sure we'll get more, but turning the corner on March makes me feel we're really gaining ground on spring now. And oh I love spring!

43. The return of LOST. The final season is shaping up to be one of the most interesting bits of story-telling I could have imagined, and I'm loving all the good conversations with fellow LOST enthusiasts. And I am most grateful for Erin, who has been recording the show for us each week (our t.v. reception doesn't extend to ABC) providing me and D. with a standing Friday evening date. We don't mind at all that we're three days behind as we watch. It makes us feel like we're flashing around in time, just like they did on the island last year...

44. Lenten scriptures. About which I hope to post more this week.

4 comments:

Erin said...

Hehe, I love the idea of you two as time flashers! As long as y'all don't start getting nosebleeds...

I really enjoyed the Olympics too. Glad you guys were able to catch a lot of them! It felt kinda personal for me too, as I have several friends, and even a couple of relatives, in Canada. I think their Olympians really did them proud!

Beth said...

Hee. One of the women figure skaters, during the short program, spun so fast at the end that she finished with a nosebleed. We found ourselves wondering if she was time traveling!

We've been wishing we could visit British Columbia, since we have good friends there now. And wow, the scenery they showed off during the games only increased the desire!

Miscellannie said...

Liked your #40 lesson about being number 18... A helpful perspective.

Beth said...

Thanks. :-) My little girl was initially upset when certain athletes seemed to do "poorly." I thought it wise to try to help her put it in perspective! And the longer the Olympics went on, the more she was in awe by the sheer talent of all the competitors, whether they won medals or not. Me too!