life

All posts tagged life

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To Give Thanks

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“Giving thanks is the most fundamental act of worship.”
~Jeff Peterson, Senior Pastor Central Assembly of God, Springfield, MO

If everyone was given a chance to take to the airways and speak or write a seasonal message centered on Thanksgiving and the concept of giving thanks, I’m betting that there would be so much thankfulness, goodness, and gratefulness rushing and swirling around that we would all palpably feel it and be positively swept up and moved by it.

If we could hear it all and read it all I believe that we would be moved to think of things and remember things from our past that we have forgotten but that we are indeed thankful for as well.  The fact that other people would identify and testify to the things that they are thankful for would jog our memories and that would lead us to more memories and more thankfulness, and on and on and on like a perpetual-motion giving-thanks or thanks-giving machine.

There would be remembrances of sights and sounds and smells and touches and tastes and situations and successes and failures and accomplishments and actions and laughter and tears that would evoke abundant memories about which to be thankful for.  And that would just be the start.

I wonder what it would do to our collective inner being to be so thankful for all that we have and in fact for the many things that we don’t have.  What would it do for the world at large?  What would it do for our country, state, city, community, neighborhood, friends and family? What would it do for you and those around you?  Drilling down even further, what would it do to and for me personally as a singular individual?  On all accounts, I’m quite positive that it would be a very good thing.  

So as the song goes “let there be peace on earth and let it begin with me,” so too, let there be thankfulness, thanksgiving, and giving of thanks more abundantly than ever before. And let it begin with me.

May your Thanksgiving be ever and forever, and ever more endless.

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Bruce Hedgepeth MDTo Give Thanks
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A Bit of a Bind(er)

With coffee in hand, a half regular and half decaf blend that I concocted and made with my own two hands, I proceeded to my usual place of computer work where the Wi-Fi signal is the strongest, the phone connection is the weakest, the surroundings are the loneliest, and the temperature is usually the coldest. It’s that place that we all call (wait for it)…

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Bruce Hedgepeth MDA Bit of a Bind(er)
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Walking For A Reason

There are so many permutations and combinations of reasons, scenarios, and circumstances that go into each walk that we take. Infinite multiplied by infinite still equals infinite; and literally there are an infinite number of determinants of what goes into a walk, why one goes for a walk, and what we say and see while on that walk. There might be some repetition, routine, and order to the walk, but the reasons and possibilities remains endless — and timeless too…

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Bruce Hedgepeth MDWalking For A Reason
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Moving In

Getting a child to their freshman year of college for their initial move-in experience and getting them ready for the first day of their first year can be nerve-wracking, stressful, traumatic, and full of angst — and that’s just for the parents!

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Bruce Hedgepeth MDMoving In
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Wyoming or Why Not?

Most of the time nobody wants to hear about someone else’s latest trip, journey, or vacation either.  There are probably lots of different reasons for that, of course.  However, I’m guessing that my audience is different and actually wants to hear about mine, thank you very much.  Glad that you asked and want to know; so I’ll tell you because you are on a need to know basis and inquiring minds want to know!

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Bruce Hedgepeth MDWyoming or Why Not?
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A Stranger in Need

I really am trying to write about something else, but I can’t.  It’s as if the story in my mind has not played out completely, has not come to an end, or drawn a satisfying conclusion.  It would kind of be like walking out of a really good movie before it ends; or putting an engaging book down when there is only something less important to do…

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Bruce Hedgepeth MDA Stranger in Need

When Heroes Go Home

I’m from Oregon; born and bred, and I come with some family background in that fire fighting arena.  Therefore I have a deep respect for these men and women who lay it on the line and risk it all each fire season.  Out west, we hold them in high regard, and when we lose even one it hurts and grieves us because they are heroes in every sense of the word…

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Bruce Hedgepeth MDWhen Heroes Go Home
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A Boyhood Hero

 

He lived on a small plot of land next door to my grandparents in the high plateau and semi-arid region of central Oregon, in a little pull-off of a town named Tumalo.   There was one street and one little store.  In the summer it was hot, dry, and dusty with volcanic and basaltic rock contributing to the ever present dust and dirt.  In the winter it was cold, dry, and snowy.  Sagebrush, Juniper, and Ponderosa pine trees dotted the landscape and contributed to a distinct smell of freshness that was entirely different from the smells of the rainy Willamette Valley of Oregon where I lived.

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Bruce Hedgepeth MDA Boyhood Hero