Grateful

I have this darling little girl I teach reading to. She is the highlight of my day most days. In the boy filled world of reading instruction...(most struggling readers in first grade are boys) it is nice to have a girl in the group to change the pace a little bit. She is just darling and is doing better than I could have imagined.
Today, as we began to write, I asked her to tell me something about herself. Really, I wanted her to learn to spell the word "am" so I suggested she tell me some things she is..."I am a sister, I am a reader, I am smart," I gave her examples. Then, I asked her, so, what do you want to say you are?
She looked at me with her large brown eyes and said, "I want to write, I am grateful". That was it.
I am grateful.

Now, I realize that Thanksgiving came and went and the turkey sandwiches are still tasty and new, and the conversations about being thankful are far from a thing of the past, but I would never have expected to hear, "I am grateful" come out of a 6 year old mouth. Wow.

As I drove home, I thought about things that have been going on lately. My graduate class is almost over. Whew, I am SO thankful for that! Things are slowing down and I can actually relax a little bit. Really grateful. I got to eat some great food and hang out with friends and family this past week. thankful.
All of those things I could list pretty easily.

Then I got to thinking about my friend Spidey who went out in the cold with a hand full of Wendy's chili just to feed the man who happened to be invisible after all. I thought about the man who has been coming by the church for help, asking for candles and a nice place to shower because he has no electricity or water at his house. I thought about the man on the corner with the sign. As I handed him what little money I had, and he blessed me and thanked me, it hit me. My little 6-year-old friend was right. What we need now is to be grateful.
In this time when we get so busy rushing to find the perfect gift or the perfect things, the perfect decorations, we somehow forget to be grateful. We forget to be courteous and kind. We forget to be grateful.
I have been reading lots of advent books lately. I have been trying to get in the mood of the season. This year, I want to spend time waiting and anticipating Jesus. I want to spend my time really reflecting on Him and being grateful for what I do have. Being grateful for what I can do. I want to at the end of each day, be able to say the same thing my little friend said, above all else, "I am grateful".

That, Charlie Brown, is what Hula Boola is all about.