thoughts in red, white, and blue

Happy Free -to- Own -a -Lawnmower -and- Read -Leviticus -and -Run -for- President- of- the -Water- District Day!

joe and i will celebrate by:

a) helping my parents pack their gorgeous house to move into another gorgeous house. praise the Lord for this providence!

b) taking a walk down Lockwood Lane because there is no parking left

c) serving coffee and other hot beverages to 573 people before the fireworks

d) watching the fireworks explode over a suburban housing developement from coffee cat's picture window

and, here's what i woke up thinking this morning. we have no idea how many small privileges we enjoy because we live in a "free" country. we can't see them all because we acclamate. we've been there, done that, gotten the t-shirt. but there's a danger that comes with having it all. we've had our countless freedoms for so long now, our lazy, selfish generation thinks that this is what life is, complete with ipods and toaster struedels. we better stop and notice, and give thanks for, what we have been given. no thing lasts forever.

Ecclesiastes wakes us up.

Lord, we thank you for the million tiny gifts you give us through this country everyday, which we have forgotten to praise you for. fill our hearts with gratitude, and help us to see your goodness to us in this. and then, convince us that the showy delicacies of this world can't compare to the weighty, pungent glories you have planned for us with You.