A Thousand Gifts

Inspired by Phyllis, and one of her favorite blogs A Holy Experience (which I also am liking more and more), I am joining the gratitude community and making my list. I need a little more perspective when I am up to my elbows in dishes and diapers. I need a dose of contentment when Kelsey goes to China again. I need to be more awake and aware of the many gifts the Father has given me here and now.

So the idea is to create an ongoing list, eventually reaching a thousand, of gifts - not ones you want, but ones you have. I loved the quote from George MacDonald on the Holy Experience blog: "No gift unrecognized as coming from God is at its own best...when in all gifts we find Him, then in Him we shall find all things."

And John Milton: "Gratitude bestows reverence, allowing us to encounter everyday epiphanies, those transcendent moments of awe that change forever how we experience life and the world."

Care to join me as we begin seeing the goodness of God in daily life (after all, that's where life happens. If we just wait for the big things, we'll spend most days waiting.)?

1. as Jeremy and I walked around Lake Lily today, there was a hint of coolness in the breeze.
2. Jeremy and I walked around Lake Lily today!
3. sycamore leaves
4. I changed Cory's diaper and then walked out of the room for maybe 20 seconds. When I came back, he was standing up, holding onto the brown chair on the other side of the room!
5. Iain's trampoline-jumping
6. seeing Iain go to bed, holding onto "just da poon" (the spoon - a plastic one he carried around before bed. Why?)
7. pickles on hamburgers
8. the way a song can carry you back to a particular time of life
9. a call from Sidonie today, from Germany
10. sleep
11. the smell of wood burning