thanks.

tomorrow will mark one week in la-la land (as my mother calls it). i’d like to say that i have fit into this city like a hand into a glove, but that would be glossing everything over a little too much. actually, when you think about it, i’ve never had a pair of gloves that really fit all that well, so maybe that cliché is relatively close to the truth. because, you see, the reality is that there are many things i love – my apartment is in a great neighborhood, i can walk to trader joe’s, my roommate and her friends have been more than welcoming, and my job promises to be everything i could hope for and more. but there are also a lot of things that take getting used to. some things, like the way of driving and general direction-sense, i will have to adjust to. other things, like the ever-present emphasis on image and external appearances, i feel creeping in to my train of thought and will have to work extra hard to stay comfortably un-l.a.

as we near thanksgiving, i am absolutely floored with gratitude. my job, my apartment, a roommate who is pleasant and helpful, parents who take off two weeks of work to come with me, who have provided so indescribably much for me in not only the past few days and months, but in my whole lifetime as well.

i’m always a little uncomfortable with the idea of thinking of those “less fortunate” in order to bolster your attitude of gratitude. it feels like i'm taking advantage of those who are caught under systems of oppression, recognizing their need but then sitting back and saying something along the lines of “thank thee, o god, that i am not like other men.” if i’m not mistaken that jewish priest wasn’t exactly the hero of that particular parable. i suppose, then, that true thanksgiving should lead us to recognize that what we have is actually a gift – one that wasn’t necessarily meant to stay in our sole possession. if everything we have is god’s, then everything we have – down to our time, energy, and ideas – really belong to everyone around us, god’s children.

of course, this quickly gets more complicated, especially in a city like l.a. where the homeless population is significant and omnipresent. extend that out to those individuals who make conscious choices to do drugs, abstain from psychiatric medications, willfully commit crimes. are they god’s children, too? there’s a fear that if i open my arms too wide, i’ll lose myself in the process. but isn’t that exactly what christ did?

after all, what's box unpacking and picture hanging without a healthy dose of soul-challenging theology. :)