Thankful For Mud and Crud

My sister's excellent Thanksgiving blog (at Superstar) kind of stole my thunder because she summed up what it is to be truly thankful in these hard times - to thank God for kids and family and job and health and all those other things. Its not that I'm not thankful for those things, although I admit to sometimes taking them for granted, its just that when I look back on this year I find myself being thankful for mud and for crud more than for happiness and health.

Its great, of course, to be happy and healthy, but if you're lost in the woods of life, happiness and health are overrated commodities - especially when you don't even realize that you're lost. Sometimes we should be thankful for just as many wrong turns as we should be thankful for the right ones.

So my list of thankful moments begins with Mud - particularly the mud of Westminster Woods just a few weeks ago when I was trudging around trying to build a playground in the rain. Why would I be thankful for mud? Wouldn't a nice bright sunshiny day have been more pleasant? Absolutely, but when you want to be reminded what being truly alive and doing God's work is really like, a little mud adds that je ne sais quot touch (colloquial French increases the educational level of this blog, right?), that divine layer of authenticism. Wallowing in the mud is such a metaphor for what we must do in order to be effective for God that its almost as subtle as being hit over the head with a crowbar, maul or... uh, whatever that other tool was. It was also fun. Lots of fun. And a great and wonderful reminder of what fun it is to embrace nature. So, I am particularly thankful for Mud this year.

Not that Crud takes a back seat to anyone. I dealt with a great deal of it this year - from a minor painful issue with my brother to a blow up at church with a friend to a serious setback in Film school. Each time I was reminded that I am not special, that I am not above causing pain, and that I have a great deal to remember in being a good Christian and a good person. When we don't interact socially, we aren't refined the way we need to be - our edges get a little sharp and brittle. Dealing with other people tends to shake up our view of the world and helps us blunt the sharp edges and become more rounded individuals and better Christians. Every time I'm hit in the face with the Zoo Monkey Crud of life, I take a step back, shocked, and then wipe the stink from my face. I don't always throw the crud, but I'm always close enough to be hit by it. It always stinks. It always stings. It always leaves a stain. But it always leaves me a little better at dodging it the next time. Getting hit with crud is God's way of refining us and reminding us that our crud does stink too. So I am thankful for crud and say, "Bring it on!"

Oh, and maybe its a good idea to roll down a window...

May you all be prepared to dodge the crud and embrace the mud this weekend.

Happy Thanksgiving!