Pictures Trump Words

road trip ~ Tahoe continued

We came, we saw and we were left breathless. I will let the lake and mountains speak for themselves.

View from the Back Seat

road trip ~ Tahoe

This is a switch. I'm viewing the road from the back seat this time. I've given over navigation duties to my son. Thanks to our GPS system, this navigator is spending his time navigating his iphone rather than the roads. He just doesn't appreciate the intricacies of the shotgun position. It's more than just backing up the GPS (or in some cases disagreeing with that disembodied voice). It's photo documenting our trip. Shotgun is absolutely the best seat in the car for catching photos ~ and the world ~ on the fly.

So with nothing to do, I settled back for a long nap and awoke to the glorious Sierra Mountains and a snowman greeting. I just love that about California ~ autumn leaves in my driveway and a few hours later snow on the ground.

Off We Go

road trip

After a terrific day of giving thanks and eating way too much fabulous food, we're off to the mountains to ski, to hike, to absorb the incredible beauty, to enjoy friendship and family. We look forward to this road trip with much gratitude and great appreciation.

Simple Thanks

i thank You God for most this amazing
day: for leaping greenly spirits of trees
and a blue true dream of sky;and for everything
which is natural which is infinite which is yes ~ e.e. cummings

Being. Loving. Giving. Receiving.

The world has started already. The rush to spend. The heated desire to buy. The anxiety of finding the right gift. It's a relief to have checked out of that insanity.

I am thankful that Christmas for me and my family is not about gifts. I am thankful that I can rest in the holiday of Thanksgiving without regard to what comes next. I am thankful that the Lord God is my focus for in Him I find refuge, peace, joy, patience and all the other fruits of His Spirit.

Thank You, Jesus, for patiently waiting for me to choose You and then rejoicing when I did. Thank You for loving me even before I loved you back.

Get Them While You Can

Pumpkin pie. Did you know that there is going to be fewer of them this Thanksgiving thanks to a pumpkin shortage? The guy at Costco told us. From the looks of the baskets in the checkout lines, you could have fooled me.

Of course, a shortage doesn't stop Costco from its annual 48-hour pie making marathon two days before Thanksgiving. When we snagged our pumpkin pie last night, we saw rolled out pie crust on every available surface back in the kitchen. I'm sure they will be making a few extra apple and pecan pies this year.

Thank You, Lord, for Costco pie!

From the Editor: My hat is off to those of you who bake your own pumpkin pies.

Gratitude

(Note from the Editor: Below is a guest post from Nathan George, founder of Trade as One. When I received this newsletter from him, I knew I had to share it with you. In this time of thanksgiving, Nathan takes our gratitude past a focused day and takes it into our everyday living throughout the holidays and beyond.)

In our materialist culture with its deep sense of personal entitlement, gratitude is a simple and subversive force. That's why Thanksgiving is so good for us. Through gratitude and generosity we can step outside of our own little world where we are the center of attention. In doing so, we step out of the firing line of all of the messaging, advertising, and fear-inducing hype that is aimed at us each day. As we allow the clamor and din to diminish, we start to hear and appreciate all sorts of quieter, gentler things that we often miss - our names, our purpose, our friends and family, and the simple joys of living.

This Thanksgiving holiday starts out so beautifully when, as a nation, we gather with our friends and family to give thanks and step back from the day to day. The danger is that we can then fall back into the ugliness of gratuitous consumerism on Black Friday and Cyber Monday - the official kick-offs to a season of material excess.

Trade as One is seeing people all over the country choose to subvert consumerism by deciding to spend less, to spend thoughtfully, and to ensure that the gifts they give are those that tell stories of the sort of world that our beliefs and hopes point us to. They are choosing to buy, give, and use items that are making a positive contribution to sustainable livelihoods for those trapped in poverty.

We have just produced another version of our Trade as One video that encourages people to use their spending power in positive and constructive ways. We hope you find it food for thought. www.tradeasone.com