The Days Full Of Love And Harm

Started this morning watching the brilliant, underrated Bad Santa, a surefire way to prepare for the holiday season, something I find myself dreading more and more each passing year. Wish I could change myself and fall in love with the season, remember loving Jesus and forgetting myself, remember forgiveness and practice gratitude, all the while keeping a sense of humor about everything. And the truth is I do love it or did and like so many things we lose, we seek to recreate it or get bitter about not being able to and that got me thinking about how I used to get five dollars from my parents for gifts for my friends and how thrilled I was, how I budgeted that five dollars to the penny and how expensive and exotic everything looked at the mall and how my friends usually got erasers in the shapes of fruits that smelled like grapes. And how thankful I was for all of it. And how I wish I could have that back.

But I'm going to rally like the great Billy Bob Thornton in his worn Santa suit and stop the pity party any day now, going to count my blessings of which there are many, so many that I'd be hard pressed to know where to start. People who have given me things I didn't know I needed or wanted, the friends that make me laugh and remind me of the past, the people I know who have survived beyond all the odds. The ease in my own life! The days which are full of love and harm and Al Green songs. Living in the most dangerous city in America -- yeah buddy, Detroit beat St. Louis this year. I knew we could do it if we set our mind to it! The cares of yesterday that have been lifted off my back, the promises I have made to God to never forget those answered prayers. Of course, we always do. It's our nature to forget pain, to pretend it doesn't exist, to let our attentions be consumed by other pains, to forget the really awful. But here's the start of the revolution -- to not forget what we have and what burdens have been lifted from our hearts. And if someone offers you a small eraser shaped like a clump of grapes, to accept it like it was the best thing in the whole world and maybe it is.

Michelle's Spell of the Day
“If you can't be content with what you have received, be thankful for what you have escaped.” Author unknown

Cocktail Hour
Southern Recovery Spell (for those who went to the bar last night and are feeling a little worse for the wear)
one package of BC powders
one Dr. Pepper

Benedictions and Maledictions
Happy Thanksgiving to all! Dear readers, I appreciate your faithfulness this reading year and am sending much love your way. Also, I'm hoping that the Detroit Lions beat the Green Bay Packers into the ground!