Nineteen Days of Gratitude

On this marvelous Monday, I am giving thanks for:

1. Marriage Equality in Washington State.
2. Being able to spend a full day in my church office after three weeks of scurrying to hospitals and being sick. Great to get a lot done.
3. Remembering to call Sandra back as I had committed about her journal issue.
4. Reconnecting with my dear friend Edie from Grand Rapids.
5. Mike buying me lunch today at Pei Wei and sharing the plans he has for attending his son's graduation from Marine basic training.
6. Making a meatloaf this morning which made making dinner a snap.
7. Fresh, steamed broccoli.
8. Whole wheat dressing.
9. The Josh Groban song, You Raise Me Up.
10. Getting caught up with publishing this Gratitude Blog.

Day 18 Along this Grateful Way

On this Sabbath day, I am grateful for:

1. Only waking up once in the night to pee.
2. Waking up early and getting my talking points for today's workshop finalized without hurrying.
3. Regina's smiling face and being able to get eggs and sausage at church.
4. Seeing Craig & David at church.
5. The generosity of our congregation regarding Shelter Week.
6. Being able to lead off the workshop with my segment today.
7. Having the opportunity to work with Kimberli Boyd today.
8. Eight new book study small groups forming around Super Brain.
9. A quiet evening at home without running to Oxford or making dinner.
10. Leftover roast beef and mashed potatoes for supper.
11. Barbara's loving my 2012 book lovers quotation.

Seventeen Days of Thanks for Living

Today, I am grateful for:

1. No line at the Post Office when I took Matt to mail his package.
2. Getting mom's medications list, and visiting nurse information organized in a binder.
3. Fresh hot Turkey sandwiches at Costco for lunch
4. Getting mom some Zyrtec which seemed to help her itching.
5. Being able to give my sister a break.
6. Mom's willingness to try eliminating Cymbalta for a while to see if that is the cause of her itching.
7. Getting home at a decent hour with some time to unwind before bed.
8. Getting a score of 2.6 million in Zuma Blitz.
9. The first night of Hanukkah and the ah ha that came as I pondered the miracle of the oil lamp. When our intentions are pure and in alignment with God's will (dedicating the temple) , we offer what we have (a single day's oil) and God makes it more - oil for 8 days.
10. The smell and feel of clean bed linens and comforter.

Sixteen Grateful Days!

Today, I give thanks for:

1. A wonderful Second Annual Faith Inclusion Breakfast meeting of The Michigan Roundtable for Diversity & Inclusion
2. Sitting with the keynote speaker at this event, Ross Murray, from GLAAD. He is a very interesting man.
3. That the church encourages me to host such events.
4. Being on time at the early hour of 7:30.
5. A whole new view of the Metro Detroit commuter thing being on the roads at 7 this morning.
6. Finally having Thanksgiving Dinner (turkey with mashed taters, stuffing etc.) Matt and I had a late lunch at Bob Evans, yummy!
7. Clear directions from the boss about this weekends workshop.
8. Chatting with Nancy Horowitz about her experiences as an activist in the 70's in New York City.
9.  Recommending Zan and Deb to Kevin Logan as caterers and the awesome job they did with the breakfast.
10. Getting to bed early.

Day 15 on this journey in Gratitude

On this Thursday, I give thanks for:

1. An alarm clock I can set by pushing buttons instead of going through all the way around the hours.
2. Hot running water in the house.
3. The way water runs completely over me in the shower.
4. Returning strength and vitality which allowed me to work the all day.
5. Reconnecting with Debra Kritzman Fielder after so many years. She and her husband Perry, were featured in a St. Vincent de Paul telethon spot which let me know she was back in Michigan. A quick Facebook search discovered that she had recently created an account.
6. Facebook which connects so so many incredible people.
7. Watching an interesting documentary on Norse mythology and particularly on Thor. This is Thor's Day - Thursday.
8. A very cool oblong covered dutch kettle that mom has acquired from someplace that I have used to cook several meals.
9. Catching the gleam in my sister's entire being as she has remodeled her house room by room. She inspires me in that she keeps on going in spite of bumps is the road.
10. A very pleasant evening and meal shared with Mom, Mike and Matt.

Thanks for a Fortnight of Gratitude

On this fourteenth day in this journey, I am grateful for:

1. Vernors ginger ale (especially when I am sick).
2. Health insurance.
3. The clarity that comes when I release what I think I know and look brand new at a project/challenge/my life.
4. Celtic Christmas music.
5. Being able to return to work today, even if it was only for a short time.
6. The restorative powers of the human body that are manifest through sleep.
7. The deep peace that flows from knowing that all things are working together for good. For me, my family and for all of us.
8. Deep and profound conversations between my mother and I that seem to take advantage of the medical journey that she is facing now.
9. When I picked up mom for her appointment with her kidney specialist today, my brother Darrin was putting mom's Christmas tree up.
10. A sweet dinner shared with Dion & Ashley at Oxford Nugget reminded me of how much I love my wonderful family.

Thirteen Days of Living Thanks

Esther Karvala Ledger

Today, I am thinking about some of the gifts I received from my Grandma Ledger who was born 102 years ago today in Upper Michigan. Grandma, thanks for:

1. An incredible inquisitive spirit.
2. Your unconditional acceptance, you were the first family member beyond mom and dad who knew I was gay.
3. Teaching me how to make your stuffing.
4. Salad Dressing Cake with Coffee Frosting
5. Oatmeal Squares
6. Your patience at having all of your grand kids over to decorate sugar cookies
7. Pasties and meat pies
8. Home made Bismarks
9. Being curiouser and curiouser
10. Many Christmas eves spent with you prepping Christmas dinner.
11. Countless hours spent together in the kitchen.
12. You once told me you wished more people could see God in everything like I did.
13. Interesting stories of your growing up in Iron River, actually Stambaugh and the surrounding areas like Beachwood.
14. Sharing the last few years of your life with me.
15. Your stubborn, iron will which allowed you to live your own way.
16. Helping me take care of Grandpa Miller.
17. Always making me feel special.
18. Your love of the underdog.
19. Never holding it against me when I failed you.
20. Visiting me in Ventura, which meant taking your first plane trip in your 70's
21. So much more lives in my heart ...

12 Days of Living Thanks

Foggy December Day

Gratitude abounds for ...

1. This quiet foggy day stay home, indoors and focus on lavish self care, rest and healing.
2. The way Rosemary and Thyme make the soup steam smell when I add them.
3. My home cooked chicken and rice with vegetables soup.
4. Knowing how to cook.
5. Friends who call and text to see what they can do for me and are cool with my saying, I just need to rest.
6. A wonderful Holidays Episode of Extreme Makeover Home Edition. Certainly got the tears flowing and for a couple of hours, my sinuses open. 
7. I love that I can experience my emotions in the physical form of tears. The last three weeks have been intense emotionally.
8. Grateful that a host has been found for the week that had remained unfilled until a couple of days ago. Now we have churches for each of the weeks this shelter season.
9. The way fabric softener makes clothes feel.
10. Finally getting some sleep last night.
11. The credit union I have been a member of for 21 years.
12. Expanding awareness of Presence, here and now.

11 Days of Thanks Living

This day, I am grateful for:

1. Settling on the idea of Thanks Living for the tag line of these gratitude blogs.
2. A friend who brought chicken soup to church for me.
3. A very sweet voice mail message from my sister.
4. Jim leading the church in sharing a blessing with me for health and healing from the cold I picked up somewhere recently.
5. Learning the difference between chicken stock (made from bones) and chicken broth (made with meat.)
6. Making it through the work day and even having a small part in the first of two Super Brain classes. I love to teach!
7. Having the sense to cancel a social engagement after work yesterday, even though I wanted to attend the concert.
8. Seeing Gail A. after at least 35 years. Looking forward to a deeper conversation as we can.
9. Watching the program Aftermath: Population Zero on NatGeo - very though provoking. It was about planet Earth recovering from our pollution after humans disappeared suddenly.
10. Hot green tea.

Giving Thanks for ten days of giving thanks.

2012 Christmas Volunteer Pot Luck

On this tenth day of noticing the many blessings I experience, I am thankful for:

1. The many wonderful and amazing Renaissance Unity volunteers who give of themselves and invite Spirit to flow into expression through their lives.
2. A short nap in my car while brother Matt grocery shopped.
3. Unseasonably warm weather for the first of December.
4. Remembering the many friends and colleagues that lost their lives to HIV/AIDS
5. Cooking dinner for mom and Mike tonight, she liked the meatloaf!
6. Noticing how happy Dion was to get a break tonight and paint her dining room.
7. Darrin having the opportunity to fuss with mom today.
8. The quiet calm that fills me and whispers, "It will all get done" even though all of my projects are behind my schedule.
9. A call from a dear friend just to check up on me tonight.
10. Airborne, green tea and Ester C are quickly relieving my congestion and scratchy throat.
11. Catching up with daily blogging!

Giving Thanks - Day Nine

I am grateful for:

1. The strong sense of Intuition that guides me, especially today when I had so much to get done and no idea how to make it all work.
2. Seeing this beautifully lit up house on my way home tonight. What a peace filled scene.
3. Sharing a Raspberry pocket pie and a cup of coffee with my brother Matt in the midst of his shopping excursion.
4. Finally figuring out that BOGO means by one get one.
5. Finding a great BOGO deal on men's cologne so that Matt and I each got a great price on our signature smells.
6. Finding no crowds at Great Lake Crossing today.
7. The easy relationship I enjoy with my sister-in-law, Stephanie.
8. Having a few still, quiet moments at the end of a busy day to give thanks for all I am.
9. The expanding interconnection I feel with Life in all of Its manifestations.
10. An incredible wedding planning with Tina & Todd and the wonderful way that Love has brought them together.

Giving thanks - Day 8 - The journey continues ...

Today, I am grateful for:

1. An unanticipated connection to the home care agency-- the intake scheduler attends the church and knew my voice on the telephone.
2. Not needing to go to the hospital this morning.
3. Buying toilet paper 36 rolls at a time which helps me avoid running out unexpectedly.
4. Christmas lights burning brightly at night which seem to transport me to an earlier time when things seemed much simpler.
5. The way the universe provides simple directions when I notice. Today, I know it is time to do laundry because I have no clean underwear or socks.
6. The many different kinds of birds that live in the huge pine tree outside my (home) office window. They remind me that all things are in perfect order for they neither spin nor sew yet they  have all that is needed.
7. The lessons of patience that come from waiting. Waiting for test results, doctors to call, prescriptions to be filled, nurses to schedule the appointment.
8. The time to write or even think about this blog because of waiting ...
9. Getting paid to do what I love doing and for direct deposit of my check
10. Being able to pay my bills.

Giving Thanks - Day 7 -

My heart is grateful for:

1. Memories of my Grandma Ledger.
2. Being able to take mom home from her hospital stay today.
3. A very kind young nurse named Heather.
4. Ice on the pond this morning which created a beautiful winter scene with ducks and geese sitting on the ice early in the morning.
5. A furnace that works (have I already shared this?)
6. A coffee pot with a timer
7. Cool cousins
8. New toilet at moms.
9. A glorious full moon!
10. A pharmacist named Abe.

Giving Thanks - Day 6

Resting is important.

Today, I am thankful for:

1. An awesome Deepak Chopra lecture and book signing event tonight. It was a powerful and awesome energy to have so many people in our spiritual "house."
2. Receiving a call back from mom's kidney doctor and the opportunity to expand understanding of the medical issues ahead.
3. Getting the news that mom will be discharged in the morning.
4. Teeth which allow me to chew food, speak clearly and have the confidence to smile broadly. 
5. A beautiful new purple argyle sweater and purple shirt, a belated birthday gift to myself.
6. The near perfect functioning of our Gnosis system in managing a very large 1500+ tickets sold  event.
7. My sister Dion who has cared for Mike every day during mom's hospitalization.
8. Having a washer and dryer in the house.
9. The many people who share hugs with me.
10. Zuma Blitz to play when I just want to veg.

Giving Thanks - Day 5

This day, I am grateful for:

1. Finding mom sitting up in a chair, looking rested and overall in better shape than she has been in for several days when I arrived at this hospital this morning.
2. Flexibility to work from hospital room today in order to talk to doctors. Thanks to ASUS tablet and WIFI.
3. Chef John sending the almost complete draft of menu for our upcoming shelter week.
4. Looking up from my blogging and catching mom snoring away. I never thought of snoring as music before, such a sweet sound.
5. Discovering that this latest episode with mom's health was elated to medication and not renal failure.
6. Finding my way through the dizzying array of ladies undergarments and buying the briefs that mom wanted. So many unfamiliar choices.
7. The subtle feeling of relief that mom is really on the mend.
8. Having some quiet time at home alone this evening.
9. The anticipation of tonight's special Holiday episode of Extreme Makeover Home Edition.
10. Daydreaming about how I will spend/share/use the Powerball jackpot.

Giving Thanks - Day 4 - A gratitude journaling journey.

1st Sticking Snowfall of 2012-2013

I am grateful for:

1. A dual alarm clock set with thirty minutes between wake-ups. Love the extra snooze after the first wake-up.
2. The warm bed I sleep in cradled by a  comfy memory foam mattress purchased earlier this year.
3. The quiet hush of the first "sticking-on-the-ground" snowfall of the season painting a new view on my familiar backyard scene.
4. The almost over whelming love and prayer support for my mom.
5. The people of St. Louis Catholic Church in Mt. Clemens who are the hosts for the first week of the the 2012-2013 MCWC Rotating Shelter Week Season. (Our first week of being hosts begins on 12/30)
6. Hot coffee from my kitchen in my cup.
7. A hot shower.
8. Clean clothes to wear to work.
9. A job that I enjoy so much it is seldom like work at all.
10. A car to drive to work.

Giving Thanks - Day 3

Today, I am grateful for:

1. The incredible nurses and doctors at St. Joesph Mercy Hospital -  Oakland who cared for my mom when I took her back to ER last night with a very low pulse rate.
2. Not receiving a phone call from the CCU at the hospital during the night. (When I left we had no idea where or how things were headed.)
3. Moms heart rate in a normal range after her medications have worn off.
4. Being able to spend some time with my brother Matt today and get his shopping done.
5. Not needing to purchase anything at the grocery store today. 
6. Matt buying me a belated birthday lunch.
7. Knowing when it was time to go home and let mom be cared for by the nurses, getting my emotions out of the way.
8. Coming home and discovering that my roommate made dinner.
9. Sharing a bunch of leftover dinner rolls from Thanksgiving with a local mission.
10. The warm purple glow of the night table lamp next to my bed.

Giving Thanks - Day 2 - The Day after Thanksgiving Day

Today, I give thanks for:

1. Kristen Diffendale and James Keane, the couple in the picture, who are getting married tonight with a focus on giving the gift of their celebration to the Breezy Point neighborhood where they life. Read their incredible story of Love Among the Ruins.
2. Friends Maryann, John and Randy, -- among others -- who lovingly punked me yesterday by summoning me to lead a prayer during our Thanksgiving Dinner at church, only to surprise me with a Birthday cake and singing Happy Birthday. Oh, and we did have a prayer. Then Rev. Jim Lee and Mitzi our Board president, had the entire assemblage sing to me again. I am learning to receive, thanks Love! 
3. The many expressions of love shared in cards, emails, texts, in box and Facebook posts yesterday. I am amazingly blessed by the love and friendship of so many incredible and interesting people. 
4. The stick it through to the "end of the dishes" people like Carole and Linda who went out the door the same time I did last night. 
5. This quiet, windy November morning to reflect on a wonderful day yesterday and to ponder our theme for this holiday season, "Find Your Way." 
6. Being able to take a bunch of left over dinner rolls and salad to the local mission this morning. 
7. The appearance last year of a chef right before our Thanksgiving Dinner, who, along with his partner, have become such wonderful friends. This year, for the first time in more ten years, I never had an apron on. As much as I love to cook, this freedom allowed me to be pastor for our congregation. So cool! 
8. Being trustworthy so that others are comfortable to pour out their hearts and release long held burdens while being personally grounded enough to not take on their pain. 
9. Having reestablished the habit of making my bed everyday by doing it, no matter what, for more than 90 days in a row. 
10. Feeling absolutely no need to go out and buy any on sale stuff today to make me happy, forget, feel better or superior. All I need now, I have now.

Giving Thanks - Day 1

Today is Thanksgiving Day and my fifty-seventh birthday. A year ago this month my friend and teacher, Martha Creek, asked the question in the picture to the right and challenged our church to adopt the spiritual practice of keeping a gratitude journal for at least 21 days . The assignment was  to write down at least 10 things each day that we were grateful for without repeating any item.

I followed the assignment and kept such a journal for many weeks and then stopped in January of this year. No clue why I stopped however, I am guided to begin this practice again. I know that I always find what I look for and I am looking for joy, peace & bliss!

1. I am thankful that 57 years ago today, my mother gave birth to this body that I use as an Earth Suit.
2. I am grateful for the 38th annual Community Thanksgiving Dinner at Renaissance Unity. It is my joy to lead this effort for the past several years.
3. I am grateful for Rev. Karen Boland who started the dinner after noticing how many others were eating dinner in a restaurant alone.
4. I am grateful for my mom's release from the hospital Yesterday after a week of testing, prodding and more tests.
5. I am grateful that after many years in manufacturing, Spirit guided me toward full time ministry which is hardly work at all.
6. I am grateful for a warm house to wake up in this morning.
7. I am grateful for the Michigan Thanksgiving Parade.
8. I am grateful for my incredible family, just as we are.
9. I am grateful for Martha Creek, who shares so much with so many.
10. I give thanks for the Loving Spirit that is my Life and for this awesome journey of awakening and expanding awareness.

Living by Choice or Chance?

I have noticed that life is more about choices and less a game of chances. Occasionally, situations arise that startle me, that I would prefer not to deal with for whatever reason. Yet I know that I am at choice in the ways I respond. I can choose heaven or hell; peace or pain; joy or sorrow.



Today, I choose Life and to be an instrument for change. Today, I choose the narrow way and I will to will the will of that One presence and power some call God.


I often describe my work as New Thought Evangelism. Isn't it good news is that each of us are creative beings, made in the image and after the likeness of God and that we have the gifts, skills and tool to choose again--to be and live and love in brand new ways. Is it not good news that each of use can have an amazing, in-every-moment relationship with Spirit? Claim this good news for yourself. Share it with the people around you by allowing Love to shine out through your life.

Only Love!
Ric Beattie 

ACIM - Choose Once Again

Temptation has one lesson it would teach, in all its forms, wherever it occurs. It would persuade the holy Son of God he is a body, born in what must die, unable to escape its frailty, and bound by what it orders him to feel. It sets the limits on what he can do; its power is the only strength he has; his grasp cannot exceed its tiny reach. Would you BE this, if Christ appeared to you in all His glory, asking you but this, "Choose once again if you would take your place among the Saviors of the world, or would remain in hell, and hold your brothers there." For He HAS come, and He IS asking this.






(c) Copyright 2012 by Richard L. Beattie, All Rights are Reserved