100 Things

This week I gave my junior high kids what they deemed (at least at the beginning) THE HARDEST ASSIGNMENT EVER! They were to create a list of 100 things that they were thankful for (and no writing down random things that they really didn't care about). They had 30 minutes and had to be ready to explain at random any item on their list. Needless to say they were a bit freaked out. That was until they got started. While teenagers get a bad rap for being ungrateful I cannot tell you how impressed I was with their lists, not to mention the length, most couldn't keep it under 100 things. I kept hearing thing like, "What? I have a lot of things to be grateful for, alright." or "Oh, wait, I need to put that too." or "Hey, I'm gonna need another piece of paper." It was great to see how much they had to be thankful for. In the spirit of our 100 things assignment I created a list too. I figured since today was Thanksgiving I'd post my top ten here. And yes, just in case you're wondering, I did copy some of my ideas from the kids...we call it collaboration.

10. Modern Technology

9. Art & Music

8. Nature 

7. Life Experiences (The good & bad things, they have made me who I am.)

6. Myself (The person who keeps trying even when she fails over and over again, who wants to be better, love deeper, and do more.)

5. The Kids I Teach (I love how they make me laugh and keep trying, even when everything around them tells them that they shouldn't.)

4. Friends (Old and New - It's amazing how quickly they respond to the little things and how much time they put into the big ones.)

3. Love (When it's real, no matter what the relationship, it changes everything.)

2. My Family (I wonder if they will ever truly know how much their diligence (in trying to understand where I am coming from) and love means to me.)

1. God & Jesus Christ (They are the reason why we could all write over 100 things that we are thankful for. I know that They listen to our hearts, help us become better, and guide us to true happiness.)

The Man in the Arena

"It is not the critic who counts: not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles or where the doer of deeds could have done better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood, who strives valiantly, who errs and comes up short again and again, because there is no effort without error or shortcoming, but who knows the great enthusiasms, the great devotions, who spends himself for a worthy cause; who, at the best, knows, in the end, the triumph of high achievement, and who, at the worst, if he fails, at least he fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who knew neither victory nor defeat."

- Theodore Roosevelt