Being Thankful

I recently read an article that addressed why some people find the Christmas season to be something less than a time of untrammeled delight. Possible reasons included seasonal affective disorder or SAD (due to lack of sunlight); exhaustion from shopping, wrapping, mailing, cleaning, preparing and/or traveling; and unrealistic expectations of a Currier and Ives type of holiday where everything is beautiful and everyone gets along with everyone else.

I haven't read anything about people who don't care much for Thanksgiving, but I suspect that some of the same reasons apply ... except for the shopping, wrapping and mailing. And then there's another aspect of it -- the laser-like focus on being thankful. If you're or sick, or troubled, or stressed, or out of work, or lonely, or bereaved, it can be a real challenge to find things to be thankful for, because all you can think about is what you don't have -- good health, a clear mind, a calm body, a decent job, or someone to love who loves you back. All you want to do is crawl under the covers and wait for it to be over.

I recently read a poem in a local magazine that gave me the idea for this blog. Since it was marked "Author Unknown" I can't give it proper attribution, but I'd like to share it.

Be thankful that you don't already have everything you desire.

If you did, what would there be to look forward to?

Be thankful when you don't know something, 

For it gives you the opportunity to learn.

Be thankful for the difficult times.

During those times you grow.

Be thankful for your limitations,

Because they give you opportunities for improvement.

Be thankful for each new challenge,

Because it will build your strength and character.

Be thankful for your mistakes.

They will teach you valuable lessons.

Be thankful when you're tired and weary,

Because it means you've accomplished something.

It's easy to be thankful for the good things.

A life of fulfillment comes to those who can be thankful for setbacks.

Gratitude can turn a negative into a positive.

Find a way to be thankful for your troubles, and they can become your blessings.

If you find something in this poem that speaks to you, I will be thankful for that. On the other hand, if you think it sounds way too much like the saying "If life gives you lemons, make lemonade," I will understand that too. I used to be a lemonade-kind-of-person when I was younger, and my husband would periodically tease me about coming down from my cloud. I'm older now, there have been bumps in the road, and sometimes it's hard to remember what the lemonade days felt like. But now and then I still have one and when I do, I try to remember to be thankful.

The Book of the Web

A good friend and former colleague recently shared with me a copy of an ancient text that didn't make it into the Bible ... not even the Apocrypha. Although I cannot vouch for its authenticity, nor do I know who may have written it, I thought that it was important that it's story should not be lost.

In ancient Israel , it came to pass that a trader by the name of Abraham Com did take unto himself a young wife by the name of Dorothy, whom Abraham fondly called Dot. And Dot Com was a comely woman, large of frame, broad of shoulder and long of leg. Indeed, she was often called Amazon Dot Com by others. 

And Dot said unto Abraham, her husband, "Why dost thou travel so far from town to town with thy goods when thou canst trade without ever leaving thy tent?" And Abraham did look at her as though she were several saddle bags short of a camel load, but simply said, "How could that be?" And Dot replied, "I will place drums in all the towns, and drums between the towns, to send messages saying what you have for sale, and they will reply telling you who hath the best price. It will be as a spider's web, each strand linked to each other strand, so that all strands are connected. When an agreement on price has been made, you can deliver the goods by partnering with your cousin Uriah, who has a successful pony stable" (UPS).

Abraham thought long and decided he would let Dot have her way with the drums, for he loved her greatly and wished her to be happy. So the drums were put in place, and idle young persons were employed to use the drums, and the new enterprise was an immediate success. Abraham sold all the goods he had at top price without ever having to leave his tent. To prevent neighboring peoples from overhearing what the drums were saying, and thereby competing with her husband, Dot devised a system that only she and the drummers knew. It became known as Must Send Drum Over Sound (MSDOS), and she also developed a language to transmit ideas and pictures, Hebrew To The People (HTTP). And the young persons did take to Dot Com's new inventions as doth the greedy horsefly take to camel dung. They were called Nomadic Ecclesiastical Rich Dominican Sybarites, or NERDS. 

And lo, the land was so feverish with joy at the new riches and the deafening sound of drums that no one noticed that the real riches were going to the enterprising drum fabricator, William of Gates, who bought off every drum maker in the land. Indeed, he did insist on drums to be made that would work only with his own drum heads and drum sticks. And Dot did say, "Oh, Abraham, what we have started is being taken over by others." And Abraham looked out over the Bay of Ezekiel , or eBay as it came to be known. He said, "We need a name that reflects what we are." And Dot replied, "Let us call yourselves Young Ambitious Hebrew Owner Operators." "I agree, but YAHOO is shorter and easier to remember," said Abraham. And because it was Dot's idea, they named it YAHOO Dot Com. 

Another of Abraham's cousins, Joshua, being the young Gregarious Energetic Educated Kid (GEEK) that he was, soon started using Dot's drums to locate things around the countryside. It soon became known as God's Own Official Guide to Locating Everything (GOOGLE). 

And that is how it all began. And God looked upon it and saw that it was good.