Gratitude, 26 July

1. Thank you to God for all who help me get through a day.

2. Thank you for the nice birthday dinner for Barbara at Night Town. It has been years since I have had a steamed artichoke and what a treat. The presentation of the artichoke at Night Town was excellent. The artichoke leaves were tender and the vegetable broth-and-butter dipping sauce was an excellent touch, not to mention the choke that reminded me of rich mashed potatoes. For dinner I had the salad with olives and cheese. Barb had the ravioli stuffed with blue cheese and mushrooms.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY BARB!

3. Finding Our Way Again - The Return of the Ancient Practices by Brian McLaren is an interesting read.

The author mentions five Abrahamic practices to consider putting into your life. He notes that Abraham was an important figure for the Christian, Muslim, and Jewish ways of life.

1. Pilgrimmage
2. Fasting
3. Holy meal
4. Prayers of blessing
5. Giving or tithing
6. The sabbath

What an interesting list this is. Of course, there are many ways to interpret this for my world today. The author suggests that many of these we probably already do as part of our way of life but just do not realize it. Pilgrimmage I think of as when we break with the routine of our life and go away. I have even been thinking that a trip to St. Peter's Cathedral next time we go to NY would be a nice pilgrimmage. Our recent trip to Florida tho' not of course a visit to a religious site strictly speaking was a break with the routine and an enjoyable one.

Fasting of course is something you do every day before breakfast. Keeping a longer fast is one approach that would work for me. A holy meal can be any meal that is shared. Prayers of blessing I feel help me get through every day. Giving is something I want to do more and want to help with the Meals on Wheels tho' in a way some of the work we are doing with FOEC, LOGS, and Komen involve some giving, tho' I could always do more. Observing the sabbath is something I feel I can do of course on weekends when again there is a break from the routine of work and there is resting, something that should be encouraged as even religious and spiritual observance says it is a valuable practice.