It's Thanksgiving week. Are you consciously being grateful?
I’ve been making a list of God's gifts to me. I started last November after reading Ann Voskamp’s 1000 gifts. My list only to #235, but I’m getting quicker to recognize moments of beauty, instances of kindness, and the abundant evidence of the good things in my life.
Do you need a budge? Go stand in front of your refrigerator. (This won’t work if you have a sleek absence of magnets and the stuff they hold up.) But my fridge door is a changing exhibit of blessings. At a glance I’m prompted to remember trips, children, answers to prayer, and the last bloom of autumn.
The fish magnet (top, R) is twenty years old. I’d snorkeled in Hanauma Bay, Hawaii and sighted the wrasse, a fish that looks like it was painted with pastel watercolors. I followed it through the coral, hardly able to believe the extravagant colors were on a living thing.
The Eiffel Tower reminds me of the trip to Paris with my mother-in-law. As we stood at the railing, a bird pooped on her. We scurried to the ladies’ room, grateful for the attendant’s help cleaning up. The unexpectedly warm temperature of the day and the flowering trees of late spring are brought to mind.
My Sunset Beach, NC bridge drawing evokes the book club’s annual vacation. One look and I can smell cooked shrimp,
feel sand under my bare feet, and spy the rise and fall of the dolphins’ backs out in the ocean.
feel sand under my bare feet, and spy the rise and fall of the dolphins’ backs out in the ocean.
The travelogue concludes with an ad for traditional roast lamb sandwiches, doner, in Bursa, Turkey. This is a twofer.
1) It reminds me of eating this kind of sandwich when visiting Bursa in 2006.
2) I'll be prompted to pray for the visiting missionary who recently passed out the magnet.
1) It reminds me of eating this kind of sandwich when visiting Bursa in 2006.
2) I'll be prompted to pray for the visiting missionary who recently passed out the magnet.
The orange calendula blossom is the last bright spot in my garden.
Baby O is an answer to many prayers -my friend's grandbaby born after years of wondering if her daughter would have children. Yeah, God!
The tour, and list, concludes with current photos of my grandsons.
My list is up to #244. How many gifts can you record right now? Add one in the comment box. Happy Thanksgiving, because giving thanks makes you happy!
“I will give thanks to the Lord with all my heart, I will tell of all Your wonders.” Psalms 9:1
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