January 2012, it is the last day in this month. These days will never come again. Some days I am happy to have enjoyed – Precious husband and boys putting porch and roof on log house. Some days I am glad to see go – tornadoes that smashed homes last week – the effect lingers. I reflect on the fact that, good or bad, these days will never come again.
Several years ago I began a gratitude page here and began counting all the ways God blesses. Somehow I was privileged to come across Ann Voskamp’s blog and her encouragement to list the gifts extended from the Father’s hand. I posted here a celebration the day I reached 1000 gifts.
I look back over the gratitude pages, read the list of blessings, open a small journal and begin to handwrite them. Some of the memories make me smile, some make me weep, some remind me how quickly my life is flowing. I write the first 200 in the journal. I hope to have them all compiled in one place, maybe two, by the end of the year.
I open another journal and again renew the commitment to count. To acknowledge God in the daily moments and give thanks for each one, whether they be joy or trial. Ann issues a challenge – a Joy Dare – and I just keep walking down this path adding to the list.
God’s abiding grace makes it impossible to stop counting.
Because He keeps giving, I keep counting:
January's Joy Dare
Continuing to Count the Gifts #1351 – 1441
1. 3 things about yourself you are grateful for:
Faithful, Peaceful, Artistic
2. A gift outside, inside, on a plate:
Blue sky, Flannel Sheets, Sausage Balls
3. 3 lines overheard that were graces:
Fun Son compliments Princess daughter's outfit, A new friend, "You have good kids",
"Sometimes life isn't good, but we can always choose to be Godly" ~ Sunday sermon
4. One gift old, one gift new, & one gift blue:
Parent's bedroom furniture, New Friends, Little One's blue eyes
5. Something your reading, your making, your seeing:
Sitting at the Feet of Rabbi Jesus, paintings, porch going on log house
6. One thing in your bag, your fridge, your heart:
point & shoot camera, French vanilla creamer, reflect
7. 3 graces from people you love:
Princess daughter feeds animals by herself, Precious husband always supports & provides, call from long-time friend-knowing she is okay
8. Light that caught you, a reflection that surprised you, a shadow that fell lovely:
Light in Sensitive Son & Princess daughter's eyes when husband brings in new work/hiking boots, Long-time friend & I only spent 1 year close in proximity but for 23 years we have kept close in heart, Husband's shadow falling lovely across Sensitive son
9. A gift in your hand, a gift you walked by, a gift you sat with:
a new red pen, brook bubbling by chicken coop, sitting with M & her parents at service
10. A gift that's sour, a gift that's sweet, a gift that's Just. Right:
…, pineapple/nut bread from neighbor, Sensitive son bringing me coffee fixed Just. Right
11. 3 yellow things that strike you as fresh mercy:sticky note from T.B. "I miss you Nancy, Love you, Teresa",
yellow tulips at Wal-Mart - Princess daughter finds one "that looks happy",
-
12. Something above you, something below you, something beside you:
porch roof going on, rubber boots in the rain, Precious husband always beside me
13. 3 sounds you hear:
kitten purring, ducks & goats greeting us for morning feeding, fire crackling in wood stove
14. 3 ways you glimpsed the startling grace of God: H's testimony of her father's salvation as a result of her mission trip to India,
Dear friend's gift of a child - they found out Christmas morning,
hugs from women in ladies Bible study after I spent Wed. in nursery
15. One thing you wore, one thing you gave away, one thing you shared:
blue velvet vest, painting for H, lunch with M & M
16. 3 ways you witnessed happiness today:
decking & felt on porch roof, Sensitive son & Princess daughter making video of kitten, gratitude for a warm bowl of stew
17. One gift that made you laugh, one gift that made you pray, one gift that made you quiet:
movie "Walking Across Egypt", chasing escaped horses (again),
rain on roof (before chasing horses)
18. 3 gifts from God's Word:
James 1:2-3 "Consider it pure joy", Colossians 2:6-7 "overflowing with thankfulness", Deuteronomy 16:15 "For the Lord your God will bless you...your joy will be complete…
19. A grace in the kitchen, a grace in the weather, a grace that might never have been:
Heart shaped biscuits, rain-rain-rain, surprise children
20. 3 gifts you only saw when you got close up:
Truths from Scripture, flecks of amber in Precious husband's green eyes,
21. One thing in the sky, from your memory, that is ugly-beautiful:
Seeing clear blue sky after tornadoes, Precious husband and children roasting marshmallows in fireplace, tornado volunteers reaching out to survivors
22. One grace wrinkled, one smoothed, one unfolded:
paper to start a fire, towels from the dryer, Sensitive son's small group leaders encouraging note
23. 3 gifts found in Christ:
JUSTIFICATION, SANCITIFICATION, HE IS WITH ME
24. 3 things blue:
tarps covering homes - protecting contents, yarn colors, sky reflecting across lake
25. One grace borrowed, one found, one inherited:
Library books, leaf print in dirt, legacy of faith
26. A gift before 9 a.m., before noon, after dark:
coffee & donuts, text from A, laying in crook of husband's arm
27. 3 gifts that might never have been:
Helpful son, Princess daughter, Little A
28. 3 graces found in your friends:
Prayer Warriors, laughter, compassion
29. A song heard, a soft word, where you saw light:
Kari Jobe "Steady My Heart", lovely limerick for S from B, across the field after days of rain
30. 3 old things seen new:
music from teen years - it still lifts, trials that come - considered pure joy,
death gives more focused perspective - who is my center
31. A gift found on paper, in a person, in a picture:
sweet note from Sensitive son, honesty of Precious husband, Gold-hearted mom & Amazing aunt
14. 3 ways you glimpsed the startling grace of God:
