Today I was incredibly moved by a video on the blog of one of my heroes, Michael Hyatt (see it here). Like Michael, I was inspired by the words spoken on the video:
You think this is just another day in your life. It’s not just another day. It’s the one day that is given to you today…. It’s the only gift that you have right now. And the only appropriate response is gratefulness.
Gratefulness comes a day at a time. And the video (…you really need to see it…watch it here…) uses incredible images as a background to a (for lack of a better term) essay on observing the world around you and being grateful.
It got me to thinking about being grateful for specific days throughout my life. What if I had to condense my life into twelve slides depicting twelve days for which I am grateful?
Here are twelve slides that I might put into such a presentation:
- Two Months Old: Lying in a crib surrounded by two loving parents in a Wauwatosa, Wisconsin bungalow.
- Seven Years Old: Playing football with my friend, Louie, in our Tacoma Street front yard. I’m wearing a Bart Starr jersey.
- Eleven Years Old: Piling into our new Toyota station wagon with my mom, dad, and two sisters, headed to Florida for a trip to Disney.
- Sixteen Years Old: Diving into the high school pool as the starting gun goes off for a race in the 100 yard butterfly event.
- Nineteen Years Old: Sitting in the bus as the lead singer of a band called Joy, Inc., driving through the Rocky Mountains, staring at the one who would one day be my wife.
- Twenty-One Years Old: Standing on stage at Concordia University, playing “Jesus” in Godspell.
- Twenty-Two Years Old: Standing at the altar of Trinity Lutheran Church in Peoria, Illinois, marrying the love of my life.
- Mid-Twenties: A side-by-side slide of two little babies, both of our children, born in St. Louis.
- Twenty-Eight Years Old: Walking across the outdoor stage, graduating from Concordia Seminary, St. Louis.
- Early Thirties: Walking with my family on a brisk winter day at the foot of the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, D.C., on one of our many visits while we lived there.
- Forty-Five Years Old: Sitting in a theatre in Lincoln, Nebraska watching our daughter, Ashlyn, play “Catherine” in Pippin.
- Forty-Eight Years Old: Sitting in the Curb Event Center at Belmont University in Nashville, Tennessee, watching our son, Ben, play with his band “My Red and Blue” in the Belmont Rock Showcase.
And there are more slides I could have included, like:
- Living in North Carolina
- Worship at Mt. Calvary
- Dinner at a wonderful Milwaukee restaurant with my parents
- Christmas Eve dinner in our home
- Moving to Florida
- Watching our house being built
Yes, there is much for which to be grateful. What a slide show it would make.
What slides would you include?
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