By Kiera Rich – KRich13@bellsouth.net

As the calendar year winds down, top ten lists are all the rage.  So I thought I would conclude a wonderful Thanksgiving weekend with a little list of my own.

Here are, in no particular order, things that I am especially thankful for. 

10.  Escaping from Atlanta.  Moving.  Running away to home.  However you want to phrase it, I am so thankful to be out of the city that never felt like home.

9.  Friends.  The one from Atlanta who shares my passion for the good doctor — Dr. Seuss, that is!  The one whose phone line I tie up on Monday nights.  (My apologies to my pool cleaner!)  The one that I sleep next to every night.  The ones who have had a profound influence on my life and those that I have yet to meet.

8.  Family.  Especially my aunt who has moved me more times than any family member should ever move anybody.

7.  Books.  The three that I’m reading.  The three that I just finished.  The ten that I have stacked next to my bed, the thousands that live at the library and, the one that I’m trying to write.  They give me ideas and insight and inspiration.  They force me to change and grow and evolve.  Anthony Hopkins said in the movie “Shadowlands”, “We read to feel that we are not alone.” and it’s true — at least for me. 

6.  Creatures.  The cats I live with.  The pets I’ve had throughout my life.  The animals I see in nature that remind me constantly of my God who just IS!

5.  Humor.  There is nothing more comforting than genuine laughter.  God gave me a pretty good sense of humor.   He’s also blessed my life with people who have the ability to make me laugh — even when nothing is funny.

4.  Food.  We are still working on our Thanksgiving leftovers and honestly, I’m getting pretty tired of seeing the same thing on my plate every night.  But then I think about the people who have no leftovers because they had no Thanksgiving dinner.  Rather humbling, isn’t it?

3.  Exercise.  Isn’t it interesting that this came directly after food?  Before the food and football that dominated our Thanksgiving, Jeff and I hit the gym.  I lifted weights and ran a mile.  This may not seem huge but to me, it is amazing.  I am indeed fearfully and wonderfully made.

2.  Music.  The intricacies of classical music.  The sweet harmonies of an old hymn.  The driving beat of my workout music.  The music that so often breathes life into my memories.  The music that, at times, has moved me to believe.

1.  Faith, hope, and love.  Faith is knowing that no matter how dark the night, the sun will rise the next morning.  Hope is knowing that everything, even the hard times, have an amazing potential for Godly growth.  Love is knowing that the Creator of the universe sent His Son to die for me. 

And the greatest of these is love. 

Happy Thanksgiving.

By Kiera Rich – KRich13@bellsouth.net

Saturdays at the Rich house are generally pretty quiet.  We try really hard to not do much.  Our main goals yesterday were getting the sheets changed on the bed and eating something for supper that was not ordered at a drive-thru.  I am happy to report that both objectives were achieved.

We do have a few treasured Saturday traditions.  One of our favorites is to head to our local Barnes & Noble.  This is a tradition that we do together.  At least in theory; but in practice?  Not so much.  Once inside the door, we split up.  Jeff sprints for the Sci-Fi section as I begin my own dizzying tour through the store — hitting nearly every section except for Sci-Fi.  I don’t know what it is about bookstores.  They transform me into something that looks like a hummingbird with A.D.D.  There is just so much to take in…so much to look at…so many books, so little time…gotta go over here…or was it over here?

I LOVE books — all except for the Sci-fi ones.  I’ve never been able to read more than a few pages of any of Jeff’s books.  The writing is not bad, it’s just not interesting to me.  But they capture Jeff’s attention enough to make him want to stay up all night and read on occasion.

Movies are another area where we are essentially incompatible.  “Aliens and explosions” are the main characteristics of Jeff’s favorites.  For me to love a movie, I need a good storyline, witty dialog, believable characters, and popcorn with extra butter.

Shortly after I moved to Atlanta, Jeff took me on a date that included one of the “Pirates of the Caribbean” movies.  I did enjoy parts of the movie; but, it will never be a favorite.  And after seeing it, I have one suggestion for Disney.  If you’re going to scare the pants off of me with your movie, please do not show me a happy little Mickey Mouse logo at the end!  Mickey is for fun movies with rainbows and singing woodland critters – not explosions and hideous characters with tentacles growing on their face.  So in the future, if the movie is scary, DO NOT show me that mouse at the end! 

Music is another area where Jeff and I don’t exactly see eye to eye.  We’re still in the process of discovering music that we both enjoy.  Jeff is a Rush guy from way back.  I think we own every CD and concert DVD they’ve ever done and I have to admit, they are extremely talented musicians and their lyrics are profound and thought-provoking.  In fact, I would probably love Rush if they stuck to just playing music and nobody ever sang.

To be fair, I’m sure Jeff would have equally harsh critiques about my music, my movies, and my books.  However, this is my blog so he’s not going to get equal time.  It’s good to be queen! 

While our differences do make for occasionally difficult dates, I am thankful for them.  It would be a lot easier if we loved the same movies.  Jeff could sniffle through my tear-jerkers with me and I could applaud his exploding aliens.  We would listen to Rush every time we got in the car and fight to see who got first read of my latest presidential biography.

But we’re not the same.  Thank you, God!  In sameness, there is no growth.  In sameness, there is no learning to compromise and no learning to get along.  I am extremely thankful for our differences because they have forced me to become someone different than I once was.  Our differences have forced me to grow.

I was reminded of the joy of differences this week as I had the opportunity to talk about ministry with a Children’s director at a local church.  She talked about the process she goes through to place a volunteer in an area of ministry.  As she described all the people who come together each Sunday to create a meaningful worship and teaching time for the kids at her church, I was enthralled and amazed.  Isn’t it just like God to create a world where every one’s gifts are needed and every one’s circumstances are valued?

A few years ago, I was lucky enough to teach Sunday school with a wonderful lady.  When we started teaching together, I didn’t know her at all.  But now, she is one of my best friends.  We had a beautiful partnership in our Sunday school class.  I did all the work and she showed up.  That was HER description.  Not mine!  But essentially, her assessment was true.  I did do the prep work.  I did teach the class.  And she did show up.  Every week. 

Our lives were very different.  At the time, I was single and had a lot of time on my hands.  She had two active and involved teenagers.  My Saturdays were spent cutting out 30 little Jesus puppets.  Her Saturdays were spent running between show-choir and soccer and music recitals.  It would have been easy for her to pull back and say, “I’ll just wait to serve God until my kids are out of the house.”  But she didn’t.

Instead, she did what she could and became an adult that I could count on in my classroom.  Another adult to listen to our Sunday school kids and to pray for sick pets and school problems.  She was another adult to give special attention when it was needed and a stern “Mom” look when the kids got squirrelier than normal.  She was another adult that I could ask to complete some weird task at the last minute and know that it would be done.  On time.  Every time.

Her loyalty and dedication allowed me to dream and to occassionally dare to try something different.  Her committment to me and to our class gave me the courage to fail.  She became a trusted friend who gave me feedback and talked me down when I was frustrated.  We laughed together and she became someone with whom I could share my heart.

Each week she served the kids and she served me.  We became a team and together, we taught a bunch of kids about Jesus.  I don’t know that I am more proud of anything else I’ve done; and yet, there is no way I could have done even a portion of what I did without her.  I’m so thankful for our differences and the way God put us together so we could serve Him in the most effective way.

Although she thinks she just “showed up”, this simply is not true.  She supported and encouraged and lovingly touched and shaped lives.  Every week.  Because of this friend, I’m a better person, a closer follower of Jesus, and more focused and sure of my ministry than I’ve ever been before.  She mentored me beautifully but with the purity of my never knowing what she was doing.  Sounds like a lot more than just “showing up”, doesn’t it?

Yes, there are times when Jeff’s movie choices annoy me.  There are rare times when all I want to do is go to bed together; but, he’s so into finishing his book that he’s not aware of anything else.  There are times when I forget to be thankful for the different people God created us to be and the marriage He formed by bringing us together.  

Like my Sunday school friend, Jeff tends to believe that his contribution to my life is just “showing up.”  But he does so much more.  For example, several years ago I wrote some Sunday school curriculum that required some cooking and craft projects that I had never done before.  This made me nervous and I felt it absolutely necessary to try out everything before I handed the curriculum over.  However, because I am a master at both procrastination and biting off more than I can chew, I was running out of time and my curriculum deadline was looming.

It would have been easy for Jeff to get frustrated with me because of my lack of pre-planning and seeming inability to say, “no”.  But what he did instead was join me in what I was attempting to do for God.  He became my test kitchen and my research lab.  Via long distance, he made my recipes and tried out my projects, reporting back to me about what worked and what did not.  He became an invaluable member of my team and I couldn’t have done what I did without him. 

As I go through my week, my goal is to remember writing this blog and to be a little more thankful and a lot less judgemental of the differences in this world.  God created people, with all their likes and dislikes and personality quirks, for a reason.  And it wasn’t just to annoy me!  Whether we all play nice and get along or not is our issue – not God’s. 

And for those of you who were wondering, the last time we left Barnes and Noble, Jeff’s bag contained two Sci-fi books and a bargain table book on the life of Judas.  What was in my bag?  “Horton Hears a Who”, that’s what!

by Kiera Rich – KRich13@bellsouth.net

It’s Pop-Quiz time!  And the subject you have chosen is United States Presidents so answer these questions to the best of your ability. 

43 men have been President of the United States of America.  How many can you name?

Who was the only U.S. President to serve two non-consecutive terms?

Who was the only U.S. President to not have a Vice-President for his entire term?

Which U.S. President was not elected to either the office of Vice President or of President?

Who were the only grandson/grandfather team to both be United States Presidents?

In our Nation’s history, there have been two father/son duos of Presidents.  Can you name them?

You may find this difficult to believe; but, I have a passion — some might call it an obsession — with U.S. Presidents.  Alternately, they fascinate me, they disgust me, they inspire me, they educate me, but above all, they motivate me to leave the world a better place than I found it.

One of the things that I love about the presidents is that they were just ordinary men.  Before he became president, Lyndon Johnson was a school teacher.  And James Garfield?  An ordained Minister.  Woodrow Wilson was the president of Princeton University, while President Harding was a newspaper man in Ohio.  Presidents Washington and Carter were both farmers and President Truman ran a failed clothing store in Kansas City.  He never even graduated from college.

Throughout history, our presidents have been Just ordinary men who, by their placement in history and their personal actions, did extraordinary things – sometimes good and sometimes bad.

I am currently reading a book called, “The Defining Moment:  FDR’s Hundred Days & the Triumph of Hope“.   I’m only a couple of hundred pages into the book so my knowledge is still limited.  But here are a few of the important things that I have learned so far.  FDR wanted to be president more than anything in the world.  He was willing to do pretty much anything to achieve this goal — even if it meant bending the rules or simply making them up as he went along.  A rather inauspicious beginning for a man who would go on to be considered one of the greatest presidents in U.S. History, don’t you think?

And FDR was not alone in his “rule-bending” ways.  His 5th cousin, Theodore Roosevelt, wanted to build a canal through an isthumus in Columbia.  However, the Columbian government was not in favor of his plan and politely but firmly told him, “NO!”.

Did Teddy take “no” for an answer?  Of course not, he simply changed the rules.  He backed a small group of revolutionaries who seceded from Columbia thus creating the independent nation of Panama.  And Teddy got his canal. 

Teddy was famous for saying the word, “bully”.  In TR’s use of the word, it means, “superb or wonderful”.  I can’t help wondering if he understood another meaning of that word though.  The meaning, according to  Dictionary.com, goes something like this “a blustering, quarrelsome, overbearing person who habitually badgers and intimidates smaller or weaker people.”

I think it’s safe to say that everyone, at sometime in their lives, has had to deal with a bully.  A young man by the name of “John” tormented me throughout elementary school.  When I got into 7th grade, he passed the baton to a young lady named “Julie”.  She was a quick study and apparently used John’s bullying cirriculum because she picked up exactly where he had left off.  Julie picked on me until I moved out of state in 8th grade at which time “Bryan” took over.  As I think back on John, Julie, and Bryan am I filled with nostalgia and a sense of gratitude for the important lessons they taught me?  Are you kidding???  Lost in the memories of my childhood, they all still make me so mad I want to spit at them! 

And I admit, I’m disappointed by my reaction to the bullies of my childhood.    With the exception of dumping a juice box all over Bryan when I was a freshman in high school, as a rule, I pretty much took the path of least resistence.  I gave up and gave over power, giving the bullies free reign to terrorize my life.  And then I went and picked on someone smaller and weaker than myself.  Vicious cycle, isn’t it?

I do wonder about the bullies of my past.  What became of them?  Do they now follow people around the office and make fun of their hair cuts?    Do they sneak into the break room and steal the goodies out of people’s lunches?  Do they make up catchy rhymes and songs about people’s piglike noses?  Probably not; but it is kind of amusing to imagine how society would react to those scenarios.

But not every bully has to have a soundtrack.  Maybe the bullies still intimidate people, but in more subtle, insidious ways.  Maybe they don’t resort to out and out name-calling but don’t hesitate to tell people they’re “stupid”.  Maybe they badger people so extensively about a mutual project that the badgeree feels like nothing more than the badgerer’s puppet.   Maybe they sit on a committee at your church or school or board of directors and simply make everyone’s collective lives miserable.  Maybe they do get emotionally, verbally, or physically abusive in their personal relationships.  Whatever the level of abuse, it has continued through their lifetime because nobody has ever dared to tell them, “No.  Stop it.  This is not acceptable.”

Many of our presidents have been bullies.  Andrew Jackson used verbal intimidation and screamed at people to get his way.  With Lyndon Johnson’s 6′4″ frame, his “in-your-face” management style often had a physical component.  And Richard Nixon?  I don’t even know what to say about him.  I think President Ford summed it up pretty well though when he said, “Any man who has to have a list of enemies has too many enemies.”

And yet for all of the bullying characters who have occupied the White House, we have still seen amazing accomplishments.  President Lyndon Johnson had a vision for the ”Great Society”.  His programs gave aid to education, attacked disease, and fought poverty.  He started Medicare and championed the causes of urban renewal, beautification, conservation, crime prevention, voter’s rights, and environmental protection.  He made great strides in ending the blatant segregation that still haunted our nation.

President Johnson sounds like a great man, doesn’t he?  He certainly accomplished a lot and left the world a better place than he found it; but, at what cost?  Who did he crush in the process?  Who paid the price for Johnson’s success?

John 14: 6 says, “Jesus answered, I am the way and the truth and the life.  No one comes to the Father except through me.”

This verse is often used to explain the path to Salvation.   Nobody comes to God except through Jesus.  Pretty simple.  However, I also think it tells us very plainly that the end does NOT justify the means.

Jesus IS the path to God.  But along that path other things matter too like our attitude toward the other creations of God — people, all the critters of the earth, the environment.  It isn’t all about me.  How I treat other people matters.  It matters a lot.  It matters to Jesus and it should matter to me just as much. 

I have to confess…I, at times, am guilty of manipulation to get my way.  I’m guilty of emotional blackmail.  I’m guilty of putting someone down in order to feel better about myself.  I am guilty of bullying.  And I need to stop.

50 years from now, I may have accomplished great things.  I don’t know.  I’m not off to a real swift start but who knows what God may have planned for me?  I think it’s safe to say that I will never build a canal or end a world war or enact a program that will provide health care to millions of people who truly need it.

However, I would rather be known for my kindness, my compassion, and for the way I have lived my life than for the way I changed the world. 

How about you?

Pop Quiz Answers

43 men have been President of the United States of America.  How many can you name?  Answer

Who was the only U.S. President to serve two non-consecutive terms?  Grover Cleveland

Who was the only U.S. President to not have a Vice-President for his entire term? John Tyler

Which U.S. President was not elected to either the office of Vice President or of President? Gerald Ford

Who were the only grandson/grandfather team to both be United States Presidents? William Henry Harrison & Benjamin Harrison

In our Nation’s history, there have been two father/son duos of Presidents.  Can you name them?  John Adams & John Quincy Adams.  George H.W. Bush & George W. Bush