1000 Gifts

Ann of Holy Experience began a community of gratefulness.

Since I read about it, I’ve wanted to be a part, but I hesitated.

Not because I didn’t want to choose to be grateful, but because for so long in my life, I’ve tried to use ‘Gratefulness’ and ‘Perspective’ as a way to avoid feeling the pain of living in a fallen world, and living in a fallen flesh.

I am still learning how to feel.  I am still learning how to sit with where I am.  But I think that I can be grateful and not be in a place of avoidance.  I hope to continue to learn how to be grateful IN my pain, as I see, or not, how God works good out of ALL circumstances (though not all circumstances are inherently good in a fallen world).

So here I go:

1.  Starting the morning with a hot cup of tea, drinking in the word, and the truth of He who loves me.

2.  Bouncing curls running up and down our hallway for just one more hug, kiss, snuggle, and noggin.

3.  The single dimple in my baby girls face and the way her eyes light up when it flashes.

4.  The sweet, sore feeling of muscles well used

5.  Working through a recipe written by my mother, remembering her hands mixing in the flour, or spreading on the sauce

6.  The ability to choose whether or not to do my laundry each and every day; Enjoying the accomplishment of a finished load, and enjoying the luxury of waiting until tomorrow

7.  Giggles that bubble up from little girl toes

8.  Kitty cats purring

9.  Finding a few stolen moments to read a good book just for fun

10.  The way my youngest giggles when I kiss her feet and belly and chin.

11.  Connecting phone conversations with Husband when he is away

12.  Even though I’ve gotten tired of the frequent dull greyness this year, I am thankful for the rain.  Especially when the drops are big and weighty and cleansing. 

13.  Little girls in polka-dotted sundresses

14.  Learning to feel.

15.  My oldest daughter’s green, green eyes.

16.  “Hug, Kiss, Snuggle, Noggin, c’nI have a butterfly kiss?”

17.  The aliveness I feel during and after a good workout.  Not to mention the endorphins.

18.  Mommy friends–who drop pretenses and show up real. 

19.  The feeling of friendship growing

20.  Hot Cocoa on a cool night

21.  Warm Campfire, S’mores, Friends, Stories

22.  Baby scribbles

23.  Littlest One’s new skills–head nods, words learned bit by bit

24.  Hearing stories of those who’ve ‘been there, done that.’

25.  Missing my Mama fiercely–The intense depth of my missing her shows just how incredible she really was.

26.  Crossing days off the calendar–getting us one day closer to Husband being home

27.  Falling in love with new music.

28.  Dancing.  To feel the desire of it welling up through my body:  Evidence of joy

29.  Breathing in the smell of my children

30.  Warm, snuggly, comforting clothes on cool, lazy days.

31.  The sunshine finally breaking out of it’s confines–and my spirit lifting as a result.

32.  Little Miss giggling during bedtime story.

32.  Sharing one of my favorite movies with my little ones.  They’re too young to ‘get it’ but they seem to enjoy it anyway.

33.  The kindness of a friend who sent *ME* a gift of pampering.  How incredibly thoughtful.

34.  Sometimes, yawns feel kind of comfortable.  Curling up into the sleepiness is a nice thing, no?

35.  My children like to run around barefoot.  I thought it might be just my example, but as it goes beyond what I do these days, I think it must just be hereditary.  My Mom and her Mom loved it too.

 36.  My kids getting excited over splashes of sunlight on the couch in the morning.

37.  The reflection of Fall on Pass Lake

38.  Kittens without fleas.

39.  Friends who call out of nowhere.

40.  Reminders that being real isn’t whining.

41.  The smell of apple anything baking

42.  Warm Apple Cider

43.  Lisa Welchel’s book Creative Correction

44.  Causes that inspire me.

45.  Projects that energize me.

46.  When my babies play together.

47.  The excited look on my youngest daughter’s face when we go to pick up my oldest at Preschool

48.  Settling fully into Husband’s hugs.

49.  My Mother-in-law and her care for all of us.

50.  My sister-in-laws.  Both of them in different ways.

51.  That should have been two items.

 

More to come…