Something To Leave You With

We will be closed for the Christmas and New Year's holidays, December 20th through January 2nd. But we'll be back with doors open at the regular time on Thursday, January 3rd. That's 2008, you know. And we'll have another hard time dating our checks right for a while. Well, those of us who still use checks, anyhow.
So, I wanted to leave you today with something I've been thinking about.
Do you remember the time people talked about wanting a "kinder and gentler" world? Wasn't the first President Bush one of the people who talked about that? Well, that's what I want to talk about today.
For some reason, when I thought of Christmas and the beginning of a new year and a kinder, gentler world, the word gratitude popped into my head. I looked up the word gratitude online. I found that Wikipedia says, "Gratitude, appreciation, or thankfulness is a positive emotion or attitude in acknowledgment of a benefit that one has received or will receive."
On another website, I read: "The art of cultivating gratitude -- it's not just about making a list." And that's the line that grabbed my attention.
At this particular Christmas-time, my children are all off in their own areas of the big United States; some married and some not, some with children and some not, some apart from each other for a time-being. They are like me, just doing the best they can. And it's because of this that I feel thankful they are doing all right in their lives. Just as I am. So, at this Christmas-time, I am cultivating my art of gratitude by thanking the Lord that He has blessed me so greatly in 2007 and, I know, will continue to bless me in 2008.
That brings us to the new year. Like the earlier saying said: It's not just about making a list. But I've decided I want to make a list! Oh, not the same old kind of list I usually make; that "resolution" list 1) to lose weight, 2) clean out my closets, 3) write to my brother more, etc., etc., etc. No, when New Year's Day comes, I will be sitting at my table, pen in hand, writing down what I'm thankful for.
Of course, I'm always glad I have this job. It's pure joy! And I'm glad my old car continues to run and I have my health, and my family is doing all right, etc., etc., etc. On one website I read this is called a Level 1 Gratitude.
But I really wanted to leave you with something more to think about. I wanted to move us to a Level 2, which encompasses everything in Level 1, but goes beyond that to include being grateful for things like 1) our lives, 2) our problems, challenges and hardships (yes! even those!), 3) the people who treat us unkindly or unfairly, 4) our freedom of choice, etc., etc., etc.
As I thought about that last item and the feeling of how wonderful it is to exist, I remembered our Armed Forces; those great men and women all around the world who are making it possible for us to have a freedom of choice. Then I also thought of all those kind and wondeful people who give up their Christmas and New Year's time with friends and family right here in the United States -- the firemen/women and policemen/women and hospital workers, etc., etc., etc., who are there for us at times when we fear we have lost our freedom of choice.
There's lots more to say a prayer of gratitude for, such as 1) time and space, 2) thoughts and emotions, 3) ideas and concepts, and 4) the whole universe.
I guess that's one reason why I'm writing this. To tell you I have something to leave you with: I'm so thankful you are in my universe and that you're here to read this blog. Thankful that you've taken the time to read about our fabulous library and the staff members who work here. Out there in cyberspace, where my words fly around, I often think of you reading this blog. Sometimes I hear you laugh. Sometimes I feel you scratch your head in wonder at what I'm talking about. But always I feel your presence.
And with that gratitude, I wish you a merry Christmas, happy holiday season, and a prosperous new year. All of us here at the Moultrie-Colquitt County Library do.
Won't 2008 be great??? Let's make it a kinder, gentler world. It's our freedom of choice, isn't it?