5 Things I'm Thankful for Today.

1. Fall weather. 60-degree temps? In the deep south? Yes, siree. Bring it on.
2. Crock pots. The scents wafting throughout the house, the prep and being able to do other things while meals are cooking, the multiple servings of meals when the slow cooker has finished slow cooking...it's all good. Literally.
3. Hope. 'Cause you know, it's a pretty huge motivator and the best non-narcotic ever. Ever. Also, it can keep you going through the next week, which is amazingly nice.
4. Football season. You know, my teams don't have to win, but it's really nice when they do. Well, when some of them do. Specifically the Saints and LSU. I'd love for Southern Miss to do well, but...maybe next year. :-)
5. A grandmother who recovers well enough from her stroke to come home. And parents who are willing to change their lives to help her. That was long, but I think necessary.

A Weary World.

Lately I've wondered if I'm not starting to really feel my age.

Whether fumbling with technology, shaking my head at "crazy kids," or contemplating the meaning of it all, every once in a while, it just feels like the world is getting too...heavy.

Some of this, I know, is attributed to living more life. Diseases without cures stealing one last conversation with yet another great, influential friend. Landscapes I love literally being washed away by nature's fury. The list growing longer of people I know, and people they know, who have seen war firsthand. Amazingly willing hearts aching for children, yet unable to give birth or get through an arduous process of adoption. Babies suffering from others' mishaps. Political schemes determining the most innocent lives' outcomes.

Some days, life's just not that easy to live without asking a few questions.

I don't know if that's because this pirate is looking, as Jimmy Buffet so eloquently reflected, at forty, or because the world is getting weirder.

Whatever the case, optimism can be exhausting.

I was reminded, though, while watching a performance of my all-time favorite Christmas carol this weekend, that even though this world is indeed weary, we also have incentive to get excited.

Martina McBride sings it beautifully:

Hope, I'm reminded, is so powerful.

I'm so grateful for faith -- for that divine umbrella of contentment that doesn't resolve all my questions like a fairy tale, but  instead puts them in context like only a Savior can.

In spite of all the ugly, all the weary, hope truly is as beautiful and refreshing as a new day.

What a thrill!

Grateful.

The five things I'm most thankful for from the past week are:

1. Friends who are fun and precious and priceless -- even when I'm at my most unlovable.

2. ENTs! Who knew allergies would attack my very soul when I moved to Baton Rouge?!

3. Patience. It is truly a virtue, and while I don't have much of it, God has put me in a (literal and figurative) place where I'm surrounded by it, especially when I need it the most. And in situations where I totally don't deserve it, and am constantly surprised by it!

4. Wedding bells! My best guy friend -- really, I guess he truly is my BEST guy friend -- has found the love of his life (also a sweetie, and from the Coast - yay!) and they're making it official! How exciting?!?! Congratulations, Jams & M'Licious!

5. Hope. Goodness knows there's not a lot of it floating around out there, but I sure am glad for the bit of it that gets thrown my way every now and then. And again, just when I need it most. :-)