Lists

My son Nathan has taken to list making lately. Each day I find pages and pages of lists scattered in his room and across the house. They might be quite short - just one or two items. They are frequently extensive - going dozens of pages in length.

The lists show what is on his mind, what he values, what he is fearful to forget.

Columns of his favorite songs, actors, activities make up some pages. Line after line of soldier phrases and battles fought long ago are assembled on note paper. "Cheats" for his favorite wii games make up another. Like little windows into his mind, I read the lists for insights into his young heart. It gives me pause.

Where are my lists? Beyond the weekly panorama of "to do" items, what reflects my longings, my passions, my gratefulness? What instruction can this mom borrow from her eight year-old's strategy?

I begin new lists today.

Lists of gratitude for all the blessings in my life. I will create columns of all that is going right in my week, not just all the challenges ahead. I will catalog the qualities that so endear me to my family, my friends, my staff. I'll call roll on all the prayers answered... and even those not.

I'll let it go on the record.