Be the Thanks

 One of my favorite websites and organizations is “Cool People Care: Saving the World, Five Minutes at a Time.”  (www.coolpeoplecare.org) Cool People Care truly live out what they say by daily offering ways that all of us can become agents of change in a matter of minutes.  As they say on their website, “CoolPeopleCare exists to show you how to change the world in whatever time you have. One minute? Five minutes? An entire day? Whatever you have, we’ll help you spend it wisely.”

Today’s post from Cool People, of course, focuses on Thanksgiving and suggests that it’s possible to be thankful not just today but the entire year.  They recommend that we can simply start by listing in five minutes all of the things we’re thankful for and then “when time’s up, keep going. In fact, do this activity once a month. If people appear on your list, call or write and thank them. Share your list with others and challenge the world to appreciate life, and never take too much for granted.”  http://www.coolpeoplecare.org/article/2006/11/23/be-thankful/

A few minutes before getting out of bed this morning, Elizabeth and I took five minutes to cuddle up and share the things in our life that we’re thankful for.

I took an additional five minutes, on the suggestion of Cool People Care, to write them down again for this blog post. I actually stopped after 5 minutes because I’m helping Elizabeth make cornbread dressing (another food and activity with my wife that makes me thankful 🙂

I’m also going to make an effort to spend 5 minutes or more every month to write a “thankful” list. I’ll keep you posted on how it works out.

Here’s what I’m thankful for today and in this month of November:

* my wife Elizabeth

* Jack

* Harper and Dylan

* Our families

* Our friends

* The congregation at Colesville & Rockville Presbyterian Churches

* Both church’s youth

* Laura and Fred Holbrook and Massanetta Springs Conference Center in Harrisonburg, VA

* Montreat Conference Center in Montreat, NC

* Ed Williams, a good friend and mentor from my college days as a journalism student at Auburn University

* Good health

* Laughter

* Coffee

* A warm fire

* A good book

* An animal that lies at your feet or on your chest

* Naps

* Snow during the holidays

* white cheese dip from a Mexican restaurant

That’s all for now. Happy Thanksgiving to you and yours.