multitude

I've been thinking about gratitude lately. Ann Voskamp, my new and delighted-in blog friend, writes of intentional thanksgiving since you can only feel one feeling at a time. Fight feeling with feeling... choose gratitude.

And God's Word stated it clearly millenia before she mentioned it. I'm finding again that thankfulness really does work my heart over like good medicine.

Ann wrote about a 4 year-old boy who mentioned his thankfulness "that today is not my birthday." He loved his birthday but decided to that though today was not his birthday, he would be grateful anyway. Ann noted that we've got to be grateful "anyway" before we can learn to be grateful "always." (sorry I can't find the post... but if you visit her site, you won't be sad to look around a while anyway.)

Ann lists the gifts of grace in her life regularly and I don't know if I'll commit myself to weekly posting this but today, it seems good.

I am grateful to God, the Giver of every good gift, for~

~ calling me his daughter, and faithfully, flawlessly loving and rescuing me- the chief of sinners. I could never save myself.

~ grief that is more painful than we think we could possibly bear- that it is short- and for a God who promises eternal life... clearly what we were made for

~ my niece Maelee who I never met, whose empty frame was all her mommy and daddy got to hold- for the Hope she reminds us of and that she is already, eternally rejoicing with Jesus

~ gracious reminders of keeping my heart light, my feet in that spacious place

~ loads of laughter with the 4 people I love most in the world joining me for a pilates workout this evening

~ music and friends who love it too. Songs that lift my heart and eyes to the Maker, especially off the lips of my love dove little girl

~ and her curls

~ sweet fellowship, our worshipping community, home church away from home

~ courage for my two big kids to jump into preschool when they weren't solid in the local language.... they are taking off there already, Praise the Lord! They love it

~ a content, very easy going, loves-to-smile third child

~ that he saved this till we got home

~ for nearly constant, sometimes violent quarreling between my 2.5 and 4 year old (grateful anyways....) for the refining, patience-growing opportunity it is for me

~ the cardboard house that has made it almost 4 months now and the red crayon blood over it's door

~ a sunlit laundry room with a view straight into my kids' room. Perfect. Makes me smile every time I nudge it open.

~ a clean-enough kitchen

~ for big brother tender love for our little guy and how they delight to delight each other

~ homegrown herbs off the back porch of our apartment in the city

~ sermons via i-tunes, well-fed, heart-language happiness

~ a tutor who I delight in who comes to my home so I can learn her unspeakably beautiful language.... and the privilege we look forward to with those words

~ that we all enjoy friendships in the majority language already

~ the most beautiful wedding band in the world, that I get to wear it: simple white gold, etched at the edges

~ the man that gave it to me. oh my...

~ this new piece framed in our home and for January 10, 2004, the day that photo was snapped. Matthew took me for a drive so we could photograph some favorite places.... we stopped at that tree and took that picture and wandered under it's branches till my love found a place to kneel. Then he asked me to marry him. What a great day.