I am grateful for:

• Non-stick pans
• The beauty of pretty fabric
• The feeling of clean hair
• A letter in the mail from one of our “pastors” from Albert Lea, Minnesota
• The anticipation of seeing my family tonight
• As much water as I want or need
• Transparency in people
• Soft socks
• The opportunity to attend Mom’s memorial service tomorrow at KU
• The smell of bacon
• Cooler days coming
• Just about any food made of carbs or starch
• Mary’s Burberry Brit Gold that makes me want to eat her she smells so good
• Recipe cards
• The fact that I am anal about the way things look on a page, or a sign, or anything in print. And don’t start, because I’m not perfect and I do miss a few things now and then…
• Gentlemen and ladies who act like gentlemen, as in their manners
• The intricate patterns in a leaf
• Wind on a hot day
• An email from Julie!
• Lunch breaks
• The fact that I am not really concerned about labels and impressing people, for the most part
• The white-breasted nuthatch

• Another new bracelet in the mail from my daughter
• An abundance of pictures of my Texas grandchildren
• A Royals’ sweep of the Rangers
• A visit this evening with my CASA girl
• This devotion from Dad’s book that we read this morning, because I was convicted, and that’s always a good thing:

But I say to you, love your enemies and pray for those who harass you. – Matthew 5:44

Methodist pastor Charles Allen wrote that when he was in the fourth grade, a school official mistreated him. The man, who had a falling out with Charles’ father, took it out on the son.  Years later during Charles’ first pastorate, he heard that his old antagonist was seeking a job with area schools. Charles knew that as soon as he told his friends on the school board about the man, they would not hire him.

He later wrote, “I went out to get in my car to go see some of the board members and suddenly it came over me what I had done. Here I was out trying to represent Him who was nailed to the Cross and me carrying a grudge. That realization was a humiliating experience. I went back into my house, knelt down by my bed, and said, ‘Lord, if you will forgive me of this, I will never be guilty anymore.'”

The concept of grace is hard to understand because it’s so far removed from how we as fallen people relate to each other. But grace is grace – and grace changes things.

Every cat knows some things need to be buried. – Ruth Bell Graham