Wednesday 3 December 2014

Midweek thanks - 7 random reasons for being thankful

In Finnish, Wednesday is keskiviikko, i.e. middle of the week. And it alliterates nicely with the word for thank you: kiitos.
Kiitoskeskiviikko - Thanksgiving Wednesday.

I hope to make this some kind of a tradition for myself: to pause for a while in the middle of the week and give thanks for something before the avalanche of things-to-do comes my way again. Just random thoughts.

1. My Mother-in-Law.
My Mother-in-Law is wonderful. She must be one of the best MILs in the world. She's perhaps the most tactful person I know. She's also incredibly helpful, kind, sensible... and she loves reading. The kind of woman I wish I could be 20-some years from now. Lord bless her.(We just celebrated her 70th birthday.)

2. Slow mornings
One of the things I love about homeschooling is that I don't have to hustle us out of the door in the morning. At this time of year, my son and I are not waking up bright and early. (Even though we do get up literally at the crack of dawn, at latest - you see, the sun rises after 8.30 AM on these latitudes...) When I wake up my son, we have a morning snuggle time. And every morning, I think, "This won't last forever." I hope my son will remember at least some of these times. Of the love we speak to one another via hugs and time spent together.

3. The birds outside my window
Our flat is on the 4th floor, and our building is on top of a hill. The tops of pine trees are pretty much on the same level as our windows. The birds and the squirrels that come to the trees - as well as the trees themselves - are such a joy to look at.

4. Coffee. Enough said.

5. New challenges
I have new work responsibilities and that means a steep learning curve. At times, I feel stressed. At the same time, I know I can learn this. God created me with a systematic bent that helps me to handle these new tasks. At some point, it will be routine.

When my new tasks combined with all the other responsibilities in my life seemed overwhelming, I took up this book to read. 

For one thing, it's a good book. This is a short history of Finns working with the Red Cross in various crises in the world, written by a journalist who has been reporting news stories from many of those same crises. So, lots of exciting stories, and plenty of facts and photographs.

And moreover, reading about doctors and nurses working in the middle of famine, war and natural catastrophes puts my computer woes and messy house into perspective. Their work is a lot more stressful than mine. I remain thankful that there are people in this world capable and willing to do what they are doing. The name of the book is Quiet Helpers. They go. They do what needs to be done. And they don't make a big deal out of it.


7. Advent
"The holiday season" easily begins to look like an extended to-do-list. But it's good sometimes to pause and think what, exactly, we are celebrating here.
And what we're celebrating just takes my breath away.

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