All you can take with you is that which is given away. – sign on the wall in George Bailey’s office

Posted by

2

 

I am grateful for the music of Earth, Wind and Fire that just makes me feel good inside.

 Do You Remember?

I am grateful for my church devotion this morning that talked about Sunday’s message taken from “It’s a Wonderful Life,” highlighting the message of Clarence Odbody, Angel 2nd Class. It focused on the fact that angels appear in human form and invited me to be an angel to someone this Christmas. Then, Janelle Gregory wrote this beautiful insight about her friendship with a woman from Malawi that was so touching, it makes me want to go next summer:

Insight from Janelle Gregory

This all reminded me of Mom’s dedication to delivering Angel Tree gifts at Christmas time to children in Hutchinson who have a parent who is incarcerated.  Or the shoe boxes that were filled and collected at CBA and WOCS each year for Operation Christmas Child, or the continual program at church that supplies a full backpack of healthy snacks to kids every weekend in the downtown area of Kansas City, or my two parents who picked up two businessmen whose car had broken down on K-96 in the dead of winter and took them to their hotel in Hutchinson, or my daughter Karissa, who heard about a young family who was staying in a seedy motel in Oklahoma City, trying to get back on their feet, and she drove to the city and knocked on their room door and handed them $200, her tithe money. Or Sam, who saw a family in a restaurant with 13 kids, part of a Christian ministry of adopting international children and he anonymously left a large donation to their ministry. Or Dwight, who “volunteers” his time to help single women in Hutchinson do remodel projects or necessary repairs to their homes…and I could go on and on. I need to be an angel this weekend. No, I need to be an angel all of the time and offer Christ to others through my actions.

I am grateful that I can still do a little creative thinking when I send out congratulations emails after our staff places a candidate, just like Shirley and I used to do when we decorated lockers before game days at Central Christian.  Here’s a portion of my latest sample that made me smile this morning:

Kick up yer heels, you two, and celebrate,
‘cause you “Rockette!”

Inline image 1 

 

I am grateful that it is Thursday and we will be having Minsky’s pizza tonight with three of my favorite people after piano lessons.

And I am grateful that two of my favorite Christmas movies will be on TV tonight: How the Grinch Stole Christmas and A Charlie Brown Christmas.

So that makes me grateful for a DVR, one of the best inventions of my lifetime.

2 thoughts on “All you can take with you is that which is given away. – sign on the wall in George Bailey’s office”

  1. I am grateful that you and Sam came to our gathering last night, and sad that we didn’t get more time to talk.

    I am grateful for the memories that you dig up every day – even though some times painful! IF you want a angel project, for MLK festivities this year, we are gathering underwear for kids. They get donated clothes, but no one typically thinks about what goes underneath. So, over the next month, every time I can, I’m just picking up a package and hope to fill a tub. This is a project of the Southern Christian Leadership conference and you should try to come with me to deliver them at 5:30 on MLK Day, if you are up for it. No Marade this year…

    Thank you for sharing…

    Reply

Leave a comment