Giving Thanks

Hello all of my half dozen readers. I hope you are all basking in the post tryptophan pre-surge on the mall warmth of the season. Don't forget the reason for this. Cicero once said, "Gratitude is not only the greatest of the virtues, but the parent of all others." I think it is wise to start the Christmas season remember what we have to be thankful for, not simply scanning the catalogs for what we want and don't have.

Here are a few things I am thankful for:

* Feeling the baby kick every day
* The frosty feel of pre-winter days that will warm up nicely
* A husband who wakes up from a dead sleep to rub my back when morning sickness hits
* Family - both biological and chosen
* God's intimacy
* belly laughing

What are you grateful for? This list can never be too long or too trivial.

Joie de Vivre ~ A Hearty Joy of Living!

The Stein Way

My Dear Sweet Mother forwarded this email to me, and it made me go "Humm", and maybe it will you, too. Much of it was written by Mr. Stein, and some was written by someone else (thanks doodah!). It does make me go Humm.
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If they know of him at all, many folks think Ben Stein is just a quirky actor/comedian who talks in a monotone. He's also a very intelligent attorney who knows how to put ideas and words together in such a way as to sway juries and make people think clearly.
The following was written by Ben Stein and recited by him on CBS Sunday Morning Commentary.
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I am a Jew, and every single one of my ancestors was Jewish. And it does not bother me even a little bit when people call those beautiful lit up, bejeweled trees Christmas trees. I don't feel threatened. I don't feel discriminated against. That's what they are:Christmas trees.
It doesn't bother me a bit when people say, "Merry Christmas" to me. I don't think they are slighting me or getting ready to put me in a ghetto. In fact, I kind of like it. It shows that we are all brothers and sisters celebrating this happy time of year. It doesn't bother me at all that there is a manger scene on display at a key intersection near my beach house in Malibu. If people want a creche, it's just as fine with me as is the Menorah a few hundred yards away.
I don't like getting pushed around for being a Jew, and I don't think Christians like getting pushed around for being Christians. I think people who believe in God are sick and tired of getting pushed around, period. I have no idea where the concept came from that America is an explicitly atheist country. I can't find it in the Constitution, and I don't like it being shoved down my throat.
Or maybe I can put it another way: where did the idea come from that we should worship Nick and Jessica and we aren't allowed to worship God as we understand Him?
I guess that's a sign that I'm getting old, too.
But there are a lot of us who are wondering where Nick and Jessica came from and where the America we knew went to.
In light of the many jokes we send to one another for a laugh, this is a little different: This is not intended to be a joke; it's not funny, it's intended to get you thinking.
Billy Graham's daughter was interviewed on the Early Show and Jane Clayson asked her "How could God let something lik e this Happen?" (regarding Katrina)
Anne Graham gave an extremely profound and insightful response. She said, "I believe God is deeply saddened by this, just as we are, but for years we've been telling God to get out of our schools, to get out of our government
and to get out of our lives. And being the gentleman He is, I believe He has calmly backed out. How can we expect God to give us His blessing and His protection if we demand He leave us alone?" (She said the same thing when interviewed after 9-11)

In light of recent events...terrorists attack, school shootings, etc. I think it started when Madeleine Murray O'Hare (she was murdered, her body found recently) complained she didn't want prayer in our schools, and we said OK.
Then someone said you better not read the Bible in school. the Bible says thou shalt not kill, thou shalt not steal, and love your neighbor as yourself. And we said OK.
Then Dr. Benjamin Spock said we shouldn't spank our children when they misbehave because their little personalities would be warped and we might damage their self-esteem (Dr. Spock's son committed suicide).
We said an expert should know what he's talking about.
And we said OK.
Now we're asking ourselves why our children have no conscience, why they don't know right from wrong, and why it doesn't bother them to kill strangers, their
classmates, and themselves.
Probably, if we think about it long and hard enough, we can figure it out. I think it has a great deal to do with "WE REAP WHAT WE SOW."
Funny how simple it is for people to trash God and then wonder why the world's going to hell.
Funny how we believe what the newspapers say, but question what the Bible says.
Funny how you can send 'jokes' through e-mail and they spread like wildfire but when you start sending messages regarding the Lord, people think twice about sharing.
Funny how lewd, crude, vulgar and obscene articles pass freely through cyberspace, but public discussion of God is suppressed in the school and workplace.
Are you laughing?
Funny how when you forward this message, you will not send it to many on your address list because you're not sure what they believe,
or what they will think of you for sending it.
Funny how we can be more worried about what other people think of us than what God thinks of us.
Pass it on if you think it has merit. If not then just discard it... no one will know you did. But, if you discard this thought process, don't sit back and complain about what bad shape the world is in.
My Best Regards. honestly and respectfully,
Ben Stein


Joie de Vivre ~ A Hearty Joy of Living!

Putting on the Ritz

Did you know that the father of Everyone Loves Raymond had John Lennon for a best man? Or that as a young man he was a monk? This was a man who turned down the lead role in The French Connection because he was being type cast as the tough guy, and he was impressed by Gene Hackman's performance.
This weekend I will have to watch Young Frankenstein and While You Were Sleeping.
Rest in Peace Mr. Boyle.

Fall on Your Knees

Tis the season to write about the rush of the season and the true meaning of Christmas. Well, I chose the title Jump on the Bandwagon for a reason. So here it goes.

Halloween is all about the decorations, costumes and candy. St. Patrick's day is about green beer. Thanksgiving is dinner, and Valentines Day is about chocolate hearts. In American pop culture says that Christmas is about consumerism and showing others up.

I get caught up in things, including stressing about work until the break. But this year I want to take time to remember what this holiday is about. On one level it is about remembering the joy of family and friends - how there are many more delights in people than we usually see, and how our lives would be more flat and gray without them.

On a deeper level it is a time to remember how grey our lives would be without God wanting a relationship with us. This is a time to contemplate and celebrate. One of my favorite carols is “Oh Holy Night”, and I always pause when I hear the lines:

Long lay the world in sin and error pining
Till he appear'd and the soul felt its worth.

I love the line about the soul felt its worth. I hope this doesn't sound preachy, but I have found truth in the fact that the deeper my relationship with Christ is, the more richness I find in myself and in the world around me.

Celebrating does include decorating the house, giving gifts and watching How the Grinch Stole Christmas. But when these things become the focus, then I have lost the Spirit of Christmas. So I have brought in our Charlie Brown Christmas tree (it is a living tree. I don't begrudge those who cut down a tree, but I like keeping the same one for several years and eventually planting them) and will eventually trim it. However it isn't to be a stress - my soul is worth a lot more than that.

Joie de Vivre ~ A Hearty Joy of Living!

Meandering

You know the clichés: "Life is a rat race", "He who hesitates is lost", "Run with the wolves". But you also have "Running on empty" or "If you are on the go all the time, life sucks". Ok, I made that last one up, but it is true.

Last weekend I spent the day with Refreshing Sunshine doing nothing but sitting outside and letting our minds meander wherever they roamed.

When I lived in Romania, we had time to meander, mentally as well as physically. As we walked to work, our brains could take in the sights, run through the plan of the day (not plans), or play the "what if" game. As we waited for the bus that may or may not come, we had the time to diddle with possibilities of the other passengers, what was the relationship between the man in the wool sweater and woman in the hat? Maybe they are spouses who have been happily married for 15 years - childhood sweethearts. Maybe they are in an illicit affair. Maybe former KGB agents now working as free agent mercenaries. We had the free time and free mental space to do this.

The US prides itself on time saving devices, but more often than not this produces an atmosphere of expecting to do more with the time saved. So our free time is not free.

We need time to meander, something we used to call play. Kids should go out and let their imagination wander - making up games with bizarre rules. In the third grade my friends and I would play a game called Gorilla. It had something to do with an obstacle course in the living room and the kid who was "it" jumping off the couch, growling and trying to tap the others' heads. Each day the rules were not quite remembered, so we made new ones up.

Adults need to play. Sometimes with actual balls and rules, ink and paper, blogs and comments. Sometimes we need to just let our brains meander and wonder what kind of bird is singing right now. Was Classic Coke really better than New Coke? Has my favorite show jumped the shark, and if so do I want to stop watching? How cool would it be to cross a lemon tree with a lavender bush?

The ancient Greeks actually had a winding river called Meander. Meandering can lead us to amazing adventures. How many road trip movies actually have the characters on a tight schedule getting from point A to point B? Rivers are teaming with life, sustenance and refreshment - just as mental meandering can revitalize our soul.

And the river Meander is deep, but not very wide. In our meandering we do not need to solve all of our life's quandaries. Ponder and play with one thing - one idea. It may lead you off track on another topic. If it does, more power to ya!

Joie de Vivre ~ A Hearty Joy of Living!