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.
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.
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.
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.
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
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