Is anyone else having a week where there seems to be too much bad news in the world? Time to record some things I’m grateful for, to keep the focus on the positive things in my life…
(If you’re already feeling really positive this week, maybe you can share some good news in the comments below!)
Gloria singing! (Photo by Steven Thrasher)
1. I am grateful for the passionate and prayer-filled life of Gloria Knapstad, former SIA Board member and one of my “spiritual grandmas,” who passed away on July 29th. During SIA Board meetings, Gloria always encouraged us to stop and pray before continuing on with a difficult discussion. And usually that led us into consensus.
I am grateful for the many times we sang together at CFO/JFO camps and Board meetings. One of our favorites to sing together was “He Lives.” We’d belt out the last line, repeating it 3 times for emphasis and with joy!
There will be a Celebration of Life for her this Saturday in San Jose. You can read her obituary here.
2. I am grateful that I have TOO MANY good stories and photos to fit into the SIA Fall Newsletter. We had so many great, inspiring conversations with Small Business Fund families and our local coordinators in Africa this summer and Boyd did such a great job at capturing our adventures. Here’s one that still makes me smile:
This was the end of a long day of walking on the dusty paths around rural Kasozi Village in Uganda. At our conference with Small Business Fund coordinators we spent half the day visiting groups and half the day reviewing our program. They were very busy days!
In this photo, Wambui (Nairobi, Kenya) and Dennis (Eldoret, Kenya) are taking advantage of the hour’s worth of electricity that we got from the generator each evening. Dennis is watching a TV show on his laptop, occasionally laughing out loud at lines of dialog that only he can hear. Wambui is charging her cell phone, which she used to text her sister who was taking care of her daughter in Nairobi. If you ever thought Africa was all mud huts and open-air cooking, you’re missing the cell phones and music videos played on laptops!
3. I am grateful for this encouraging message from Eileen Caddy, at the Findhorn Foundation in Scotland:
“Remember first of all I drop the seed, the idea into your consciousness. Then it takes root and begins to grow, and finally it is manifested in form, perfect in every detail. A seed never has any doubts as to what it is going to grow into, therefore you must have no doubts whatsoever about the seed which I have planted into your consciousness. Simply know it will grow and flourish and will be perfect.”
Have a good, gratitude-filled week!
