....and the minute.

I want to thank you, Lord, for life and all that's in it.
Thank you for the day and for the hour, and the minute.

Maya Angelou

I wanted to make sure I wrote a quick something on this night and on this holiday, especially for this season of my life.   And I guess it's not so much so I could express my thanksgiving in generalities..... instead, as I was brushing my teeth and reading the little sayings and scriptures I stare at every day, I was struck by Angelou's words, written on a small piece of stained glass dangling from a corner of my mirror.  I'm especially affected by how she finishes what begins as a very general song of thanksgiving. 

Thank you for the minute.

Do I say that enough?  I am exceedingly thankful for life and all that's in it.  THANKFUL.  And maybe everyone says that (at least, on this holiday, you've got to muster up some sort of sentiment of the sort regardless of life's current circumstances, right?).  Maybe it's easy to say that because, well, "natalie, you're living in EUROPE" (and that's freakin' awesome!!).  But as I reflected on Angelou's beautiful words, I join her simple--and specific-- hymn of praise.  Yes, Lord: I am thankful for life, for my family, for good health, for a great place to study, for friends......

but I am also thankful for how hard I laughed with Elisabeth tonight (mostly as she laughed at me).

I am thankful for the sweet conversation I had with Jessie for a good part of the night as we sprawled out on my dorm room bed and enjoyed being with each other for the first time in three months.

I am thankful for the Vercours, the Chartreuse, and the Belledonne mountains, always the mountains.  But specifically today I'm thankful for the Belledonne, because they stand the most tall, and they change colors and moods as I do.   They remind me that You are God and I am but human. yet--- I am your child.

I am thankful for the amazing macaroni and cheese that Richie brought tonight for our Thanksgiving meal, and for an opportunity to laugh around the table with friends that are soon becoming 'family.'

I am thankful that despite it's difficulty, I am still enjoying the pursuit of French language mastery SO MUCH and I am progressing steadily and with increasing surety.


I am thankful for the hot shower I just took, even if I have to push a button to keep the water going every five seconds and, after midnight, the lights go off and I have to shower in almost complete darkness (yep, that applied tonight :).

I am thankful for my 'wall of love' that I get to look at every day, which is covered in letters, drawings, and Scripture, reminding me of the countless people who care enough to encourage me and share their lives with me even as I live here.

I am thankful for the tears that welled up tonight as I talked to my family and saw all four of their faces appear on my computer screen.  Those tears were rich in love; I'll never quite realize the value of the unity and support we have for one another.  To me, these are the most precious people on the planet.

I am thankful that Jessie Elledge, in the flesh, is sleeping next to me as I type this at my desk! (did i already mention how thankful I am that she came all the way here, that I get to have her for three days?!).  And I am thankful that Skype worked so she could talk to Jbox.

And then I think about the Lord, about the gratitude I feel simply because I am invited into a living, healing, transforming, love-relationship with the Lord, the Lord who gave all this to me.  The Lord who gave his all for me.  That, friends, is always what I will be most thankful for.  I seek to live with the attitude of the psalmist: "Apart from You, I have no good thing" (psalm 16).  So let me declare tonight, as Thanksgiving ends for me here: Apart from the Lord I have no good thing.

Gratitude is great no matter how it's expressed, but gratitude in generalities loses part of its grandeur.  Be a person that pays attention to the day.  And the hour.  And the minute.  God is to be discovered in all circumstances, and I'm so convinced that as you experience God in a moment, you will have no response but to be thankful.

As I heard it said and what has stuck with me: Joy doesn't render us grateful; gratitude renders us joyful.

Tonight I am rejoicing, rejoicing, rejoicing in every good gift.  In every good minute.  In every detail of Who God is and all I have still to know in Him.

On a holiday that is so loved in the United States and that I get to celebrate through skype and sentiments : HAPPY THANKSGIVING (or in one of the translated french versions, 'bon jour de grâce")!