A Call to Give Thanks

In the spring of 2010, I felt called to count my blessings, to give thanks in all circumstances, and to post it here. I considered it my own 365 Days of Blessings Challenge.

It opened my eyes to the amazing number of blessings I have in my life . . . things that I often take for granted too regularly.

It opened my eyes to my own sinful inclination to be crabby, doubtful, and full of worry . . . that was a bit uncomfortable. There were far too many days during my blessings challenge when I struggled to get beyond counting four blessings, and my challenge was to find ten new ones each day.

Lately, through prayer, study, and life circumstance (God's providence), I have realized that just because my personal challenge year ended I am still not done learning about the need for giving thanks.

So, I'll be giving thanks every day for the rest of this month for at least ten blessings each day, and every time I post on my blog, I'll add them on at the end of my posts.

On December 1st, I'll be revealing a new challenge for 12/1/11 through 12/1/12 - and welcoming any who would like to join with me on a year long challenge . . . anyone interested?



Today I'm giving thanks for:
1. "Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever." Hebrews 13:8

2. Laughter with friends and family in an interactive theatre experience. I love laughter, and laughter with friends is sweet. Laughter with friends we haven't seen in a few months is even sweeter. I can't quite describe it, but I hope you know what I mean.

3. Seeing three actors and one actress show off their amazing talent while they performed various roles for a re-telling/showing Robin Hood. 12 roles, 4 people, theatre in the square kind of performance but done at Seattle Childrens' Theatre by professionally trained actors.

4. Reading the playbill, and coming across this job: Fight Director. I knew they had fight directors for movies, but for a Childrens' theatre production? Wow. I had been extremely impressed by the smooth exchange of pretend blows by the cast, and wowed by some of the more extreme stunts, but I didn't know that they hired a fight director. It made sense. (oh, and on the "kid" side of things - they did a great job of having intense fight scenes and yet making sure the audience knew that no one was "really" hurt)

5. Eating at the Crab Pot on the Seattle waterfront and having a great time, even if no one in my family eats seafood. They make awesome burgers too, and we enjoyed watching our friends crack open their crab, mussels, and clams with wooden mallets and giant bibs.

6. After weeks of beautiful, flame colored leaves flickering against a blue sky, we had a Northwest rain and wind storm that didn't cause many power outages, and now is gone with the new dawn.

7. Days and days of no clouds on the horizon, one day with them, and another without . . . I am so thankful for that. I love rain. I just don't like the overhang of gray from horizon to horizon that made up our winter last year. Rain is a good relief, and even better when followed by clear skies.

8. Scented candles that smell like apple pie.

9. Three types of chocolate chip cookies: Otis Spunkmeyer (from pre-made dough) for my sweet husband, bean and sorghum flour with no egg and little dairy for my daughters and I - split into dark chocolate and white chocolate varieties. Seriously sweet and yummy.

10. Celebrating my youngest daughters' tenth baptismal birthday. Her faith, which faltered last year in the midst of too much dance competition pressure, has been renewed by rest, hope, and time to just be her beautiful self. We learned a lesson together about the hype of competition that neither of us is likely to forget. She loves to dance, but competition just isn't her style. (and I am thankful for that)

11. My oldest daughter is taller than me (finally, she says), and although I miss the warm bundle of sweetness that she was as a baby, I love the tall lengthy sweetness that she is now. She is growing into a thoughtful young woman, who still loves to be silly and laugh.