The day begins, this week. I inhale, exhale slowly. How best to begin, where to start, which direction to go?
And then I remember. The best way to begin a week, or change a life: Give glory-thanks to God.
Reading around the Gratitude Community this past weekend swelled my heart with this happy, bursting thing, joy… and still, too, at times, this strange sadness.
Because sometimes, often, we bring the sacrifice of thanksgiving. It is a sacrifice to give thanks in hurting place, difficult times. And yet, we choose to see all these gifts, all this God-grace.
Have I told you lately how you each move me, mentor me?
Your stories mold my own. Thank you for touching my life with your emails, your blog posts… with the warmth of your lives. I read your words, pray your names, your bruised places, know and feel the closeness of God upon our wounds, binding us up.
Together, we’ll keep making the sacrifice of thanksgiving.
And find in that, that which heals, the only thing. The Joy of the Lord.
How I send love…
All’s grace,
Your turn: Notes from around Gratitude Community….
“I’m joining the Gratitude Community. I’ve been meaning to all month. Beyond the immediate benefit of focusing on what I have, rather than what I haven’t, I want my children to remember that I was also joyful. I want there to be a record of the things that I was thankful for, the moments that brought me joy day by day when they were small.
Some of that is here already in this blog, but I want there to be more.” ~ She Laughs at the Days
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“With my mother leaving for Iraq this week to join my step-Dad for many months, for the first time, as a civilian worker…I need this discipline… Noting these things (the 1000 gifts) is making me focus on, remember, and cherish those things that I really do cherish….
It is increasing my love for my family.
It is calming me.
And to do both of those at the same time right now, with mom leaving in just a few days? That’s saying a lot.” ~Maggie
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“A list of one thousand gifts, one thousand things to be thankful for. Sounds like a lot. Then I think… in one year I could have a thousand if I just write three things a day.
Surely I have more than three things each day that I am thankful for.
Surely if I were to pay attention to each moment, there are a thousand little things in every day that I am grateful for.
If I were truly grateful in every moment of life, grateful FOR every moment of life… no book could contain the list of things for which I would thank my God.” ~Canadian Soldier’s Wife
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“I am, however, aware that some days and some seasons can make it hard to see the good stuff hiding under the demands and weights of life. The irony is, the good stuff isn’t hiding at all. We just have to choose to see it and receive it.” ~ Jeri Phillips
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“Being intentional about gratitude is also helpful…but not always enough. Sometimes I just need to cry, and be sad, and angry about the hand I’ve been dealt….
But I am learning to live in the present where God lives. When I remember to be here and now, then I meet the Triune God…because that’s where God dwells.
It’s a process and I think part of that process is learning to be like a child again…to live in the present and delight in God’s gifts…to just be with him.” ~Joanne K
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“This is my third fall since my sister’s death to breast cancer. All those memories link with her. I ache for her.
I was thinking today that I need to change my focus. You know when you walk into a room and the kids have cleaned up and you don’t notice all the dishes washed , food put away , you notice the one thing that is not done: “You guys forgot to wipe the counter.”
That seems to be my outlook lately and my family seems frayed around the edges a bit and I know it is because I am looking at life that way.
You encourage me because you took time to take a picture of cheese! You, my friend with 6 children and a farm to take care of.
It goes back to lifting our eyes to the hills and seeing beauty. I need to see His gifts. I keep seeing all the work around me the 7 children and this house and school books and laundry piled up.
I think I don’t have time, but I will shrivel if I don’t take the time to lift my eyes in hope and gratitude. I need to look at the gifts, I do not have my sister, Julie, but I look at her eyes staring out at me from my nephew’s face and oh how he makes me laugh, just like Julie did.
So My dear friend, I am carrying my gratitude notebook in hand today!
I pulled out our old friend Nouwen and here is what he writes:
‘We need to remind each other that
~ Amy in Michigan
(Consider reading through the thanksgiving offered around Gratitude Community… You’re invited to come join us! Why begin your own One Thousand Gift List –drop me a line if you begin your own list. It would be a privilege to give glory-praise with you and all those offering the sacrifice in the Gratitude Community.)
Photo: a path through our woods….
