On a whim, I sign up for an on line study. 1,000 Gifts by Ann Voskamp. A thankful journal. This was a few weeks ago. I have read the book and began counting my way to 1,000 - years ago. I start the study. It takes me most of the day to listen to the teaching. Most of it I have heard, or read. I find it refreshing. Naming the gifts we are thankful for. For 7 years I have recorded those gifts through the month of November, right here on this blog. Tonight. I wonder. When did I begin this naming journey? For a few moments I wonder. I head to the shelf for my 1,000 Gifts ... View Post
The Sound of Change, 30 Days of Thankfulness, Day 2
I hear them before I see them. The sound of change. Cattle trucks. The rumble. One. Two. Three. Four. A farmer up the road is selling one of his herds of cows. One of the three surviving dairy farms on our road. Now two. A sob catches in my throat. We were that farm last Spring. We tried to sell. But the market was so bad, we couldn't get out. I call my farmer. I ask if he saw the trailers. He softly says yes. It is hard to be in an industry that you watch slowly die. It's painful. All those cows. Generations of working the land. Hauling rocks, smoothing out space for hay ... View Post
30 Days of Thankfulness Day #3 How Did We Get Here?
How did we get here? The beginning of November. Trees shed their leaves. Mornings greet us with a chill. We linger over hot cups of coffee wondering how the day will unfold. With the recent flooding haying is finished. We had held out hope for one more cutting. That decision has been made. Winter looms ever before us. I wonder, how did we get here? Times seems to evaporate these days. I long to slow the marching clock. We set the clock back an hour last night. Well, somehow, somewhere, these high tech phones we have do it themselves. I manually change the microwave and ... View Post
Have You Been Recording Your Gratitude? Day #17 of Thankfulness
We've had a lot go wrong lately. It makes one weary and a little on edge. Waiting, so to speak for the next ax to fall. So when the good comes, sometimes it's hard to enjoy. Really. It can be work. Teaching yourself how to accept good. I know there are good things all around. We just need to look. Train ourselves to see the good. Each day reaching for gratitude. Ann Voskamp began this journey of Gratitude. Before I knew the intense grief of the loss of my mom, son, cancer, 2 dear friends and now my dad. I delved into this practice. Ann Voskamp challenged me to the core. “I want ... View Post
Walking Through- It Has to be Done
It never goes away you know. The ache. The missing. It's always there. Always. A piece of you. Your child. Gone. It never leaves me. Ever. I think about him all the time. I wonder what he'd be doing. How he would react to something. Yes. Life is ebbing forward. Time. All held in the palm of the hand of the One who called that time into space. We lost our nephew a year ago today. The heart wrenching loss. My farmer's youngest sister. Now a part of the exclusive club no one wants to join. A year since his kids have been wrapped in his loving embrace. Sometimes I can't ... View Post
The End And A Beginning – Day #30 of Thanksgiving
30 days of Thankfulness. A practice. A journey. A life attitude. Purposely seeking. Work. Changing. Becoming more like Christ in all we do. Having eyes to see beauty where none exists. 3o days to establish a habit. A commitment to desire more. To yearn to be molded and shaped into the child God wants us to be. Displaying a heart in submission to the path placed before us. A season of Thanksgiving leading into the season of Preparation. It's not too late to begin the walk of ... View Post
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