2Day:

• Is Wednesday. Which means we have a Team Prayer Time at work. We were ushered into a time of gratitude by listening to Brian Doerksen singing Great Is Thy Faithfulness. Steve mentioned that he thought Nelson Boschman (the musician we've hired for our Vancouver Gala) had something to do with the recording. I sat there, all sniffly and achy, because I still have my cold and I'm a little bit miserable, letting that song wash over me. The last time I heard Nelson 'do' that song, he was the worship pastor at Fraser Heights. And in my memory this was the last song we sang as a congregation before we closed the doors. FOREVER. "Great is Thy Faithfulness" ... at that point, my husband had left, our church had closed, the business I had with my mom was up for sale, my dad was dying (Hahaha. Oh he fooled us) and I'd just moved into a neighbourhood that my friends were moving out of. I put my entire life in His hands and He was faithful. Just lookit me today :) 

• My computer at work reached that point where there was 0 space left on my hard drive. THIS was NOT celebrated with a party and cake. 

• I came home from work at 3:30 pm for a bite to eat and to allow the computer guy to poke around in my computer 'via the back door'. I fell asleep on the couch and woke up at 5.

• I immediately opened facebook because that's the first thing everyone does as soon as they wake up and found out that Steve Jobs, only 6 years older than me, had passed away.

• I still had my cold. I was still unenthusiastic about vertical activities.I looked over at my kitchen sink, and wished someone would come clean my kitchen. I am just that lazy.

• Unexpectedly, Drew and Dani walked into the house. And went straight to the dishwasher to empty it. And THEN? Then Drew went upstairs and brought down 32 cups from his bedroom. (Our entire inventory of cups was in his room.) And then they stacked the dishwasher and turned it on. Like angels.  If I spoke Christianese, I'd say, "I was so blessed". But I don't talk that way, even after 7 years working for a Christian ministry, so all I can say is, I was dumbstruck with gratitude. Which, after all, is the theme of the day. 

• Then I went back to work. For 5 hours. Because I have stuff on my plate. Gala dinners in Vancouver, Toronto, Los Angeles. A Mentoring workshop in White Rock. A television taping back east. A luncheon in Ottawa. No, no, no. I'm not attending them all  (I like to blow my importance out of proportion sometimes), I'm simply sorting through the details and making sure there will be food on the tables and someone in the coat check room. I'm thankful for the block of uninterrupted time. Maybe I should work evenings more often? NO no No, I jest. I have to be free in the evenings. To go out for tea. To talk about books. To see movies. To eat meals with friends and family. To walk. HA.

Three things I'm thankful for:

1. The jury is still out, but I did buy and have used a neti pot.

This is how it works:

And this is how it flushes/irrigates:

YUP. Totally gross.

Still stuffed up.

Still feeling sorry for myself. Had to cancel a whole lot of planned fun this week.

But THANKFUL that it's just a cold. 

THANKFUL that I figured out how to use it and not drown. Or gag.

And THANKFUL that colds only last one week.

2. I am thankful that all my kids will be home for Thanksgiving dinner.

3. I am thankful that it is rainy and dark and cold and miserable outside. It's easier to be sick or to work long hours when the beach isn't calling out to me. 

Shalom,

Still thinking about Steve Jobs. 

His creativity. His work ethic. 

Was he our greatest modern day inventor? Did everything he touch turn to gold because he was a brilliant designer? Marketer? Fortune teller? 

Does his genius die with him? Or did he spend time mentoring and investing in those coming up behind him?

Who's the next wonder kid? That facebook guy? 

Is it fun watching what they invent? Or exhausting?

Soon there will come a day when I can`t or won't want to keep up with all the newfangled nonsense. 

In the end, his products will be obsolete, and we'll be left with his words. (Which are being plastered all over facebook today.) His Stanford Commencement Speech is being quoted like it's the Bible: 

...you can't connect the dots looking forward; you can only connect them looking backwards. So you have to trust that the dots will somehow connect in your future. You have to trust in something — your gut, destiny, life, karma, whatever. This approach has never let me down, and it has made all the difference in my life.

...Sometimes life hits you in the head with a brick. Don't lose faith. I'm convinced that the only thing that kept me going was that I loved what I did. You've got to find what you love. And that is as true for your work as it is for your lovers. Your work is going to fill a large part of your life, and the only way to be truly satisfied is to do what you believe is great work. And the only way to do great work is to love what you do. If you haven't found it yet, keep looking. Don't settle. As with all matters of the heart, you'll know when you find it. And, like any great relationship, it just gets better and better as the years roll on. So keep looking until you find it. Don't settle.

Your time is limited, so don't waste it living someone else's life. Don't be trapped by dogma — which is living with the results of other people's thinking. Don't let the noise of others' opinions drown out your own inner voice. And most important, have the courage to follow your heart and intuition. They somehow already know what you truly want to become. Everything else is secondary.