50 Days of Gratitude: Days One & Two

I can't recall exactly when I started this Eastertide practice of gratitude journaling in a public space. I know it was at least thirteen years ago, maybe more. I'm a bit hit-and-miss with Lenten practices and Advent practices, likely due to the pace of my vocational life in those seasons. So I enjoy the length of these fifty days and the chance to remember what I'm grateful for and share them with you. Some of these posts will be predictable (family! friends! faith! chocolate!) and some of them will surprise even me. So it goes.

I write them mostly for myself, but I share them in a public space in case they invite you to think about the gifts in your life that incite a thankful posture. I find this practice mitigates the hard places in life, to a degree, at least.

Over the years, I've shown myself more grace if I miss a day or two along the way. I just pick up where I left off. Who's counting?

So here's what I'm grateful for as Eastertide begins in 2024, days one and two:

Helpful sayings from dear friends.

Two women I've been so very grateful to know in life have left me sayings that I'm glad I have in my vocabulary.

The first phrase is one that some of you have heard me use and some of you have heard the story. If you already know this story, go have a cup of tea or take a walk - show yourself some grace.

My dear friend, Amy, who died a year and a half after we graduated from seminary, had a saying, a reminder whenever we were dealing with especially trying people: "EGR - Extra Grace Required." We all know these people, we've had to deal with them or manage them or work with them or live with them and let's face it....we've all BEEN them on occasion. But if we were lamenting how challenging that was, Amy would stop, look pointedly and say "EGR" and we would be reminded that we all need extra grace from time to time.

Amy would also be the first person to say we must not suffer fools gladly or at all. That we must call out behaviors that are unacceptable or hurtful or harmful. (Looking at WAY too many people in politics and more than a few others). People whose own agendas do not include the well being of all, or of the earth, well, they probably need some extra grace and they deserve our constant leaning in to hold them accountable.

You see what I did in that paragraph? I deviated from the original point of the post (Amy's brilliant EGR saying) and went down a different path with my thought. My former parishioner Delia called that a "birdwalk." She used this phrase to signal a wandering away from whatever the subject is, and in this post, I used it to wander a bit away from offering others extra grace. In my minds eye, I usually picture a seabird of some sort, walking off down a different path. Birdwalk! When Delia served as Council president, she didn't allow us to birdwalk often in our meetings. Birdwalk! she would declare....and back to the agenda we'd return.

As thankful as I am for both of these helpful axioms, I'm so glad that whenever I use them, Amy and Delia live in the world for that moment, or at least in my heart. They were both educators first, Amy an English professor and Delia a teacher and school principal. They both had a quick wit, a sharp mind, and a generous spirit. Birdwalk: Extra grace was what they both brought into the world. And for that, on these first two days in Eastertide, I am grateful.