So What Faith

Greg Smith

Giving Thanks – 10 Experiences in 2022 (#2015)

By

I am thankful for all of the life experiences I’ve had since last Thanksgiving. Today, I highlight 10 that are particularly memorable and when possible provide links to additional writing related to those experiences:

Final picture taken on the rooftop deck of our home in downtown Fort Worth, Texas (photo by Greg Smith)
  1. Surviving a brutal assault (Surviving an Attack & Living a Hope-Filled Recovery)
  2. Celebrating my partner’s promotion to Dean, enjoying our life together, and relocating to my hometown of Arlington, Texas (Heading East)
  3. Completing my first year as Executive Director of the White Rock Center of Hope (and starting my second year!) (One Emergency Expense Away and By Faith).
  4. Hosting and facilitating a weekly small group in our home (in Fort Worth and now in Arlington) (The Church of Hope and It’s Lent Again)
  5. Serving as Chair on the Board of Directors of the Texas Association of Charitable Clinics
  6. Blogging for 13 years here at So What Faith (Celebrating So What Faith: 13 Years & 2,000+ Posts)
  7. Being affiliated with the United Church of Christ for 12 years (God is Doing a New Thing – My Experiences in UCC Congregations)
  8. Enduring the pain of the closure of my seminary and direction of the university of which it had been a part (Saying Goodbye to Hardin-Simmons University)
  9. Serving as a contributor to Lectionary for Life Series for the Center for Congregational Ethics (Praise the Lord and Be Yourself)
  10. Ending my time as part of First Presbyterian Church – Fort Worth (Ending My Time at FPC)
Northridge Presbyterian Church volunteers at White Rock Center of Hope (photo by Greg Smith)

So What?

There are many ways you can give thanks in the days and weeks ahead. I encourage you to flip through (or click or tap through) the pages of your calendar for the last year to remind yourself of the ways you’ve invested yourself in the causes and people who matter most to you. After completing that exercise, draft your own list of ten meaningful memories. Finally, list the person or people most involved in each of the items on your list.

Bonus: If you’d like to be an overachiever, communicate a message of thanks to someone associated with each item on your list over the next ten days.

For further reading check out last year’s post, which was my first annual contribution to this series: Giving Thanks – 10 Experiences in 2021.