Looking back over some recent posts, I realized that the blog has been a bit on the darkish side of late. I’ve kind of been on a pain, death and suffering kick. Cheerful installments have been as rare as Southern accents on National Public Radio. Which is a bit baffling to me because I think Southern accents are really quite charming. The late Shelby Foote could read from a vegan restaurant menu and hold my attention for hours.
Recently, I had dinner with one of our elders and a normal member at a steakhouse in Knoxville, TN. The server, a petite young woman, welcomed us in an unmistakable east Tennessee accent – the one that sounds as smooth as a drink you’d pour into your glass if you put a Southern Belle’s sweetness and an Appalachian mountain woman’s authenticity in a blender and hit the liquefy button. I think we tipped her about forty bucks just for elocution.
Anyway, I got to wondering why I’ve been so mired in the morose. I have been spending a lot of time in hospitals and rehab centers visiting mom and dad these days. And just about the only way to get to those particular facilities is to go through Atlanta traffic, which is nearly enough to convince me that two of the five tenets of Calvinism, namely Total Depravity and Limited Atonement, are absolutely true. Plus, when I take the back way through the hills of northeastern Alabama, the only radio station I can get for miles and miles is National Public Radio. And that’s enough to depress anyone.
So, on a recent return trip to Huntsville, I created a PG Comedy channel on my Pandora app. I laughed so much I had to stop twice just to clean off the windshield. Travel tip: don’t mix sugary drinks and Cheetoes while listening to a comedy channel in your car. During one impressively heinous traffic jam on the Atlanta Perimeter (a.k.a. Pascual Perez Highway to long-time ATL residents), people in the cars around me, assuming my laughter was of the maniacal type you often see on that particular stretch, started inching away as the volume would permit, so as to put some distance between them and me. I wasn’t offended because gridlock like that does things to a person.
Here’s the thing – we’ve all got stuff to deal with. Much of it is dark and discouraging. If you let it, it can blind you to the humor, joy and blessings that are all around you. Maybe that’s why one of the most frequently repeated commands in the Bible is to be grateful. Gratitude requires us to intentionally look for the good, the bright and the positive. Heck, even the sadly titled book of Lamentations (3:23-24), says this: Because of the Lord’s great love we are not consumed, for his compassions never fail. They are new every morning; great is your faithfulness.
So get out there and do some gratitude. At the very least, it will make the people around you suspicious.
Judy always said Tennessee folks did not have accents. It was everyone else that was not normal?.
Very timely. Having a hard time remembering that these days. Thanks for the reminder.
I am always amazed at just the time when I wondering if we are making any difference at all at the Co-op something “just happens” out of the blue. We call it a “God Thing”. To your point, if we are looking and open to it, God will let us know it’s all worth it.
Gratitude is an attitude!
Knowing your love for meat ‘n taters, the reading of the vegan menu comment literally made me laugh out loud. Excellent post!
First, NPR is great! And so is this post! I always enjoy it when researchers uncover a great truth captured long since in scripture. Harvard says gratitude generates happiness:
http://www.health.harvard.edu/healthbeat/giving-thanks-can-make-you-happier
Thank you for this reminder, Jody! I needed this!
I am more grateful.then ever for the way God has blessed me since my stroke. And, your blog always gives me food tor thought. Thank you, Jody.
As I set here in the room dedicated in honor of you and Lisa, ( sub teaching at GAC) reading this message, I am grateful for the Vickery’s! Keep the words coming. Blessings!