The Gratitude List

All Things Must Pass

"give thanks in all circumstances; for this is God's will for you in Christ Jesus."

1 Thessalonians 5:18

As long as I  can remember I have cherished the ritual of reading the Sunday/holiday newspaper and it all started with "The Miami Herald".  There is something about the -day off/holiday- mentality that lends itself to the relaxed nature of a morning with a steaming cup of coffee, rustling of newsprint in your hands and sitting back in your favorite chair.  I always went to the sports section first and still do.

My first regular sports columnist read was Edwin Pope and did not realize until doing research for this post that he is from Athens, Georgia and like this writer a UGA graduate. I am grateful today that God continues to show me all he makes ties together in some form or fashion and were we to notice, speaks to His unmerited gift of Grace to us.

Furman Bisher's tearjerker in 2000 on losing his son.

My unbeknownst ties to Mr. Pope evolved into a short career in sports journalism where I found myself in the very same Press Boxes with columnists who captured my fancy from their sports pages on Sunday mornings.  One of those writers was a southern gentleman named Furman Bisher who applied his trade with the Atlanta Journal- Constitution. As a neophyte publicist for a NASCAR Winston Cup Grand National race team in 1978 I met Bisher for the first time at the Dixie 500 at Atlanta Motor Speedway.

Lewis Grizzard & Furman Bisher

It was not my experiences in NASCAR that are my cherished Furman Bisher memories but the time spent with him on Thanksgiving mornings over the course of two decades.  A highlight of our family's Thanksgiving ritual was reading aloud his "I'm Thankful" columns as if they were scripture from the Holy Bible. The Grace that those columns brought forth each year was sufficient to establish the spirit of the day. His kind of Journalist is hard to find these days and we lost him in 2012 along with his hallowed Thanksgiving tradition.

A Bisher Masters Memorial

I did not, however, understand the real import of a gratitude list till I got sober in 2008.  It was as if Bisher's columns resonated with that still small voice within during my straying years.  In my sober faith walk I have come to believe that self pity is a spiritual malady that is part and parcel to substance abuse and addiction.  In the 12 Step Programs of various AA fellowships it is often suggested that a recovering alcoholic routinely construct a gratitude list.  Furman Bisher over the hard years allowed me to get a leg up on this effective spiritual practice.

What I believe: If I fill myself up with gratitude, there will be no room for self pity.

My T Day Gratitude List

Two beautiful daughters whose character tell me,

I got something right!

A place to go to work 

and part of the job is riding Harleys.

A woman with strawberry blond hair named Patti,

and she likes me.
Butter Pecan Ice Cream and Golden Oreo Cookies.

A Dave Matthews' song called "So Damn Lucky"

performed by his DMB.

For God giving us Charles Schultz 

and he in turn giving us Snoopy.

Riding through the countryside on my H-D Softail Standard

and picking up the scent of sassafras in the air.

Sons of Serenity, my men's home group.

Hawks and Dragonflies because when I spot one,

I know I am presently aware.

The Truth will set you free and I can find it,

 embodied in Jesus the Christ and His teachings.

Amen,

Bradford Bosworth

Thanksgiving, 2016

Amicalola Adoration

 Love Letters

"Above all, love each other deeply, because love covers over a multitude of sins."
1 Peter 4:8 NIV

Lodge View

I am familiar with this couple who are newly found in their love for each other. However, that is not to say they are newly found in their acquaintance with each other.  They met for the first time around six months prior at a retreat setting in the exact expression of Christian faith.  The circumstances that they might find themselves in conversation were providential and were what the man used to describe as coincidental but now is assured are means of Grace. This writer has it on good authority that when these two souls made first eye contact a spark ignited in them both divine curiosity.

So, the man tells this writer that at the first chance meeting he was in a relationship with another woman, not just any relationship but a committed relationship and one in which he had been totally invested. He did not forget the penetrating look in the hazel eyes nor the remarkable strawberry blonde hair, but he did forget the name of this strikingly beautiful woman and they lost touch as they both were absorbed again by the world.

In just a couple short months, the man's committed relationship with a no less remarkable lady began to unravel. He still does not quite comprehend how a loving relationship can fall apart for it is his belief that real deep love is forever. Alas, the man's love for the first woman will always be.  His faith tells him that our Creator has a plan and that there is a reason for everything. God places people in our lives at various times to serve His purpose. We are the clay. He is the potter.

Fast forward four months, and my friend found himself in the exact same place at another retreat and there she was, the angel with strawberry blond hair!  This time he would take nothing for granted and seek her name and begin the wooing.  He tells me that this past weekend they took a spectacular motorcycle trip to Amicalola Falls State Park.  It was there that he felt and learned a whole new meaning for the word adoration and again God is good!

Sunset Silhouette

Writer/Editor's Note: Stay tuned as there is more to come in this Love Story. Oh and Happy Birthday to my new partner in Devotion!

Amen
Bradford Bosworth
November 2016

Requiem Letters

Thank you Papa AL

When a twelve year boy loses his father to death the grief is numbed by an immediate survival instinct that includes an awareness that job one is to take care of Mom.  That same boy as a young man becomes relieved at first, but then more and more is gracefully blessed when it becomes apparent that there is a man to love and attend to Mom.  Oh how grateful I am that Al Hamilton came into Jeanne's life...and mine.  I witnessed a joy, peace and happiness in her life that had been missing for a long time, but most of all I had an example of what a gentleman looks like, a model to emulate and remember when my own character defects wanted to lead me astray.

Papa Al passed away this morning in Kentucky after a long rich life.  We had lost touch in the years since mom died in a 1993 car accident in which they were both involved.  After surviving an extensive ICU stint with serious head injuries he stayed in Somerset, Kentucky and eventually remarried a lovely lady, named Wanda.  I have some regrets about losing contact but our lives so often take divergent paths and really we stay in touch because of the love we have shared and will forever be.  And I have it on good authority that Jeanne along with all the angels are in welcoming reception of Alfred in the heavenly kingdom of our Father.

Also, I am assured that one day I'll be joining with you all again and oh what a joy that day will be!

Amen

Bradford Bosworth

November, 2016

Remember: Look Up:

Smiling at Our Smyrna Supermoon

Matthew 25:13

"Watch therefore, for you know neither the day nor the hour in which the Son of Man is coming."

What a momentous month this November 2016 has been! We had the Chicago Cubs winning the World Series; the first time that has happened in 108 years! We had Donald Trump winning the Presidency of the United States in an unprecedented manner. And as the writer types out these words, our earth's moon will come closer to this planet than it has been in 68 years!

Now, we do not know when the Cubbies will win another World Series and Trump cannot win another election for at least 4 years and many are praying the election and run up to it will not repeat as far as divisiveness goes. But, we do have scientific data which says the full moon will not get as close to us again until November, 2034.  I would be 82 years old.  Odds are I will not be here in this world to witness it again.

Smyrna,Ga. Supermoon (PM) 11/13/16

I wonder how many folks will miss the witness of this display from the heavens. Our Creator longs for His creation to awaken and become aware of the miracles happening, the messages being sent and the angels in attendance along our journey.  We, as his chosen children have never throughout history here been good at noticing all that is placed in front of us. Forgetful, we sleepwalk through most of our terra-firma existence. In our present age with the advent of portable devices we are even more unawares of what is truly happening around us, always looking down at those devices.

 And the prophets, saints and angels weep at our slumbering stumbling missteps through this glorious life we have been afforded.  The good news is: It's Okay!  Each new day all we need to do is remember to look up!

Father may we remember when awakening to look up also to see the full morning moon. Amen

Good Morning Supermoon (AM) 11/14/16

Bradford Bosworth

November, 2016

Of Saints and Angels

Take Nothing for Granted

Hebrews 13:2  NKJV

Do not forget to entertain strangers, for by so doing some 

have unwittingly entertained angels.

I have an avocation that involves collecting and gifting antique keys along with scripture or noted quotes from classic writers and books.  These keys are specifically categorized as skeleton keys, a rather macabre way of description. And with the passing (no pun intended) of Halloween and the advent of All Saints Day, I am nudged to scribe about the Saints and Angels of this life.

The Key to Hospitality

I am assured that our Creator places people in our paths throughout our journey here on earth and reciprocally He surely removes them as well.  Sometimes they are with us for awhile and sometimes not.  There is purpose to them all. Some we notice and some notice us. Some we fall deeply in love with and part with broken hearts strewn in the wake.

Some we are born of and some bear our children.  Some we learn from and some we teach. Some as we turn to see in the distance remain a mystery always presenting a struggle for our understanding. All whom we have loved, we love forever. That place in our heart they continue to occupy though sometimes we try to cover it up or paint over it in pastels of denial.

The noted Christian Psychiatrist M Scott Peck wrote in his popular book "The Road Less Traveled", 

"All human interactions are opportunities either to learn or to teach." To take this concept further, sometimes the student walks a long way before the lesson is learned and then realizes the teacher was an Angel he welcomed innocently unaware.  

When the door closes on that relationship, whether it be Saint and sinner or student or Teacher as we stand begging, "don't let me go!" we become amazed and stand in awe as we turn to see another door opening towards heaven's way and a new Angel waiting to guide us onward.

Abba, so grateful are we that You send your Saints to guide us home!

Amen

Bradford Bosworth

All Saints Day, 2016