Why did I select the above music for this particular blog? The answer would be because this blog is all about thanksgiving, blessings received and feeling grateful in and for everything, everyday, every week, every month and every year... which as you know is NOT easy. It's easy when the moment is right, when things going well... but, when the rubber meets the road and you are in a difficult cycle... this could anywhere from just having a bad day, to a bad few weeks when things aren't going right, when you are getting slammed from every direction and you just wanna shout out, God, just shoot me now! This is especially when we need to be grateful. I keep a 'blessings' journal that I write in daily; good days, bad days and every day in-between. If you focus on the blessings, more will come your way, and while you are busy focusing on the good the bad will take care of itself and eventually move on.
The music I selected is a prayer simply known as 'The Kyrie' which was composed in 1562 for Pope Marcellus II, who reigned for 3 weeks in 1555. At that time, it was copied into a manuscript @ the Basilica de Santa Maria Maggiore in Rome.
The music is a petition and a prayer of thanksgiving. An acknowledgement of what God has done, what God is doing and what God will do. Lord have mercy, Christ have mercy... it's refined in the parable of the publican in Luke 18:9-14. I thought it appropriate for this blog posting.
SO here are some of the BIG tickets items for which I am most grateful:
1. for God, who created me. The complexity of this thought is beyond enormous in its scope for me to fully ever comprehend.
2. for having the parents I have and my family. I could not be who I am today without each of them.
3. for growing up in the Bay area-- in a sleepy little valley town named Santa Clara that was filled with orchards; cherry, walnut, apricot trees and open green alfalpha fields during the mid-1950's through the mid-1980's-- the Santa Clara that I grew up in was then in the process of becoming what is now globally referred to as the computer mecca of western civilization as we know it. The stomping grounds of my childhood/teenage years only exist in glowing memories or among faded polaroid pictures.
4. for being a small child when the Golden Age of television was in it's infancy and being able to watch comic genius and creative storylines in classic TV sitcoms... like the following: Syd Caesar in Your Show of Shows, The Andy Griffith Show, Twilight Zone, Alfred Hitchcock Presents, Red Skelton show, the Dick Van Dyke show, American Bandstand, I Love Lucy, The George Burn's Show, Ed Sullivan, Outer Limits, McHale's Navy, The Dean Martin show, the Andy Williams show, Mitch Miller, Lawrence Welk, The Honeymooners, Jack Paar, Bat Masterson, The Virginian, Roy Rogers/Dale Evans, National Velvet, The Rifleman, ., Carol Burnett, Walt Disney's Wonderful Word of Color, Wild Kingdom, Creature Features, The Courtship of Eddie's Father, the original Batman series, Superman, the 3 Stooges, Star Trek, Johnny Carson, The Monkeys, Abbott/Costello, Laurel/Hardy, Ma & Pa Kettle, Rowen/Martin's Laugh-In, Dark Shadows, The Mickey Mouse Club, Captain Kangaroo. Saturday Morning Cartoons; The Flintstones, The Jetson's, Tom and Jerry, Popeye, The Bugs Bunny show, Caspar the friendly ghost, Woody Woodpecker, Space Ghost, Johnny Quest, Deputy Dog, Top Cat, Huckleberry Hound, the Pink Panther. And, so many more that there that I have no space to mention, you can fill in your favorites....
5. for being an American girl who went to the movies and ate a lot of popcorn while watching these movies in a movie theater with an overhead projector: Pollyanna, Mary Poppins, Love Bug, Lady And The Tramp, Cinderella, Snow White, Bambi. The Music Man, The Sound of Music, Love Story, Breakfast At Tiffany's, To Catch A Thief (Grace Kelly),
Gigi (Leslie Caron, Maurice Chevalier). I'm a movie junkie and have probably seen almost every movie made... these only name but a small handful...
6. for vinyl records. Seriously, I love the memory of walking into a record store, looking for whatever song I was listening to at the time whether it was on a 45 sp or a 33 lp (high fidelity not stereo-- the record players didn't split the sound). Selecting (walking up/down record aisles), purchasing, then bringing it home and the excitement of opening. What I remember is the fresh scent of plastic wrap as you peeled it off, then the smell of the vinyl record as you pulled it out of the album, then placing it on your record player (finding the center hole and fitting it on just right was always a fun task). Then holding the record(s) in place while you swung the record player arm over to hold them before they dropped down onto your hi-fi record player. For 45's remember you had to place on that thick short stacker? Then the scratchy/static sound you would hear as the needle of the record player rolled over the vinyl record.
7. for 4,5,6 because I cannot imagine how very different our social and personal lifestyles would have been had it not been for the emergence of Hollywood, television and records. It's unfathomable to me as to what our culture would be like in this Century... instead of an universal pop culture everything would be tightly regional.
8. and this should be placed in the #2 position... for being an American woman and living in a country where I have the right to an education, freedom of speech, freedom of religion,
the privilege to vote, et al. I am very blessed to live in California and be an American citizen.
9. for books. I LOVE READING... exploring the world, ideas, simply the pleasure of learning via the written page. There is something majestically wonderful about words/language and the different meanings they can convey to us. I can easily get lost in reading (good) prose... to me it's utterly magical.
10. (This is my personal expression and not meant to offend any religious beliefs that you may hold close to your heart.) for my faith and the gift of discernment when it comes to my religious beliefs. The ability to not just follow the crowd, but to listen to the voice of God as he directs me. I was baptized a catholic. My maternal side of the family are Irish and were brought up in the Roman catholic faith; my grandmother, aunts, great-grandmother were convent taught (we're talking VERY old school when mass was given in Latin). My paternal grandmother and her family were Swedish and were Lutheran. As my grandmother/dad raised me (my parents divorced in the late 50's) I was very much exposed to Lutheranism (catholic light as I call it). My great grandfather was a very gifted bible scholar as were his father and mother. This was in the late 1800's. My grandmother was born in 1884 and passed away in 1982. My paternal great-grandfather John, often spoke to her of future events as he knew them from reading the Bible. He told her of how men were going to be able to fly in her lifetime. My dad was a pilot as are a majority of family and extended family members. I was fascinated by the things she would tell me. I finally found (many years later) the passage where my great grandfather discovered this hidden in James 4. My grandmother went from hearing her father tell her of the future event of flying (which was unheard of then) to watching her son and grandsons become pilots, she referred to them as aviators. I am grateful for the exposure to many other religious beliefs that run in my family; Baptist, Methodist, Episcopalian, Muslim... a little bit of everything. Which brings me to where I am today with my faith and my bible study... usually, this is something private and outside of my immediate family; Jeff, the kids, and grandkids, I really don't speak of it. Jeff who reads Greek and Hebrew long ago told me if I really wanted to know what the Bible was speaking of I should read it in it's original language. Well, that sounded like a no-brainer, why hadn't I thought of this before? And, what an eye opener it was... it has totally made all of the difference. I am (and have been for the longest time) simultaneously reading the Torah, the Quran, the Bible, using my Hebrew Interlinear as I go along word by word, it's a process (I enjoy an intellectual challenge). It's totally amazing what you can learn this way for yourself. To conclude this portion of what I'm grateful for... I can't imagine going through life without having my faith and knowing that God is w/ me every single moment on my sojourn along this earthly pathway called life.
Thank you, Dido
Whatever you're doing this Sunday, enjoy... and, don't forget to turn your clocks back!
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