Thankful Thursday: Joy Dare Week 5

This week has been much better. I've been busier, experiencing a dramatically productive week at work (unheard of!) and well, what can I say? God is good.

This week:

79. Worship without work (I work part-time at a church, and it's not a foregone conclusion that I can worship on Sundays without having my day of rest interrupted with work.)

80. and 87. Time to create and be creative (different days/different ways.)

88. Affirmation from a coworker of something done well.

This week's "photo" is a little digi-paper-scraps image I threw together, it's a representation of a friend's house. I helped my friend move this week, and I stopped by her house the night before the big move. We reminisced together about the memories in that house, and for me, I remember the first time I hung out at her house, near the beginning of our friendship. This friendship has been a great blessing in my life these last two years, and I am so very, very grateful.

Thankful Thursday: Joy Dare Week 4

This week has not been so awesome. I knew those days, those moments, would come, but I'm not enjoying the icky feelings that have been sticking with me much of this week, and these are certainly moments where I DON'T FEEL LIKE GIVING THANKS, thank you very much. Yet I trudge on, 3 little things every day. One thing, one day, I simply wrote after "it", the thing that was not awesome that day, "can I be thankful for this?" I'm not sure I succeeded at gratitude. But I wrote it down. I tried. Maybe in a day or 100 days I will learn what to be thankful for because of it. One hopes.

Sunday's sermon was about prayer and my pastor relayed an idea from C.S. Lewis (as he tends to do, being as he is a big fan of Lewis) that prayer is about relationships, and when the relationship between us and God is not 100%, we should engage in practicing the discipline of prayer anyway. Lewis said (something like) a practice of prayer is the cast around what is broken that helps us along until what is broken is healed and healthy and strong.

Day 20something and I'm not keen on thinking of 3 things. But I'm going to do it anyway. There are still good things and this practice, as crazy-hard as it is some days, is healing. Because I do this, I am reminded of other, good, wonderful, beautiful things - and for that I am thankful.

Things on my gifts list this week:

54. A gift from God's word:

"My flesh and my heart may fail,
but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever"
- Ps 73:26

57. helping one friend pack up for a move (which, thankfully, is a local move, or I would have a much harder time being thankful...)

59. hours spent with a friend, relaxing and chatting over some coffee. Mmmmm.

And a photo. My jobs give me reason to be creative in problem-solving, organization, etc., but not to be artistically creative. In my free time, I try to make time to create pretty things.

Thankful Thursday: Joy Dare Week 3

Things I'm thankful for this week:

28. "You don't have a soul. You are a soul. You have a body." - C.S. Lewis (emphasis mine) 

36. Warm blankets and fluffy pillows.

42. Hope still. 

Two photos this week... I got flowers not once, but twice. In one week! The hydrangea arrangement was the centerpiece from the women's retreat at church last weekend. I was the lucky one at our table whose birthday was closest to the date of the event, so I got to take home the flowers. Then, Tuesday, someone brought me flowers as a thank you gift, so that's makes twice in a week - wow! I love flowers, so I am enjoying these gifts.

Thankful Thursday: Joy Dare Week 2

Things I'm thankful for this week:

10. A day at Disneyland :)

16. Shared with me on Facebook by a dear cousin/friend/sister: "Yet I still dare to hope when I remember this: The faithful love of the Lord never ends! His mercies never cease." - Lamentations  3:21-22

25. A zero minute commute (I started working from home 1 day per week, something I'd been trying to get approved for at least 6 months.)

A photo for the week, related to #10, but actually #12 all on it's own

Thankful Thursday: Joy Dare Week 1

It's a new year, and I find myself taking on a new challenge. Last year, I started reading the book One Thousand Gifts by Ann Voskamp. Since I work part-time for a Christian book publisher/online retailer, it was impossible not to be aware of this book; it landed on the bestseller list month after month. I was intrigued by the idea of counting 1000 gifts, 1000 things to be thankful for in a year.

Over the holidays I had some extra days off, some time to think, and I decided to jump in and try this DO THIS for 2013. ("Do or do not. There is no try." - Yoda (right?!?)) 1000 is a lot. It's a really big number, the kind that makes me want to say, "No way I can do that...." On the other hand, noting 3 things every day sounds very manageable. I can definitely do that. (Don't tell, but I feel like even if I miss a day, thinking of 6 things once in a while to "catch up" is reasonable. Not that I'm planning to make a habit of that.)

And then I remembered that once I thought I'd post every week for Thankful Thursday. Right before I neglected my blog for months on end. Last year's decision to blog more also fell apart. New year, new resolution, new blog schedule. Yes, a schedule. I'm optimistic that by committing not to the vague "I will blog more" but to the specific, "I will blog on Thursdays", I might be able to stick to it.

The plan is that each week, I'll post on Thursday and share some of the things I've been thankful for in the week. I will be mostly focusing on writing these down, but I hope to photograph some of them. The photographs in this post is are actually from #13 on day 5, but I wanted to share the mini-journal book I put together for my year-long project right here at the beginning. Without further ado....

Things I'm thankful for:

1. watching the Rose Parade with the smell of the Christmas tree still in the air

4. lunch with a friend (a 2.5 hour lunch, but who's counting?)

8. hugs from my nephew Charlie

Photos for the week: