Let is Snow!

The first snow of the season is coming down and I can't help but look at it and smile.  It's one of my simple pleasures and it's definitely going in the gratitude journal tonight. 

There is something exciting about the first snowfall.  The flakes were small and wispy at first.  The kind that make you think it might not be real or at least the kind that make you think this isn't going to last.  But I smiled anyway and enjoyed the fact that it was at least snowing, if only a bit.  I glanced out the window later to find that the snowfall was less intermittent and I thought, "Hm, maybe it'll last longer than 5 minutes!"  Then a glance out the window a little later rewarded me with larger and heavier flakes.  Oh boy!  I can just see the kids at school, squealing with delight and eagerly awaiting recess.  Then the worry might set in.  "Teacher, I don't have my boots.  Do I have to stay on the pavement?"  "I didn't bring snow pants!"  The planning might begin, too, for forts and snowball fights and "skating" on the blacktop.  The excitement of children!  Never mind the fact that the snow is not building up or sticking to anything just yet.  They set their sights high and hope for the best. 

I guess I still have some of that childlike excitement in me when the first snow comes around.  I hope for heavy inches of the white stuff to cover the evergreens.  I hope for a blanket of it covering my front yard.  I hope for the stillness it brings with it.  I hope for the eager yelling of my boys as they run in after school wondering where their boots are.  But it looks like all of that will come another day.  The snow is tapering off as I write.  I guess it was just letting me know that it is out there.  It will come.  I just need to be patient.

Let it snow!

Let it snow!

Let it snow!

Enjoy the song here.

Tomorrow

Yes, tomorrow.  Tomorrow is when I'll start.  Tomorrow, when things aren't so crazy.  Tomorrow, when I have a quieter day.  Tomorrow, when the kids are napping and the laundry is done.  Tomorrow...

Just curious...have you started a gratitude journal?  Have you started paying attention to the good gifts in your life?  Or are your intentions for beginning that "new project" scheduled for....tomorrow?  If you are making time to read blogs, may I challenge you to stop.  Right now.  Go find an odd, currently unused notebook (we all have them lying around, don't we?) and a pen and stick them under your pillow.  That's it.  Then you can come back to your blogging.

The life we live does not stop.  Just like the To-Do list is never finished, life rarely gives us a breather.  I don't know about you, but a common phrase running through my head is, "I really should be doing..."  There is always something I feel like I should be doing other than the fun thing I'd rather be doing.   I really should wipe down the baseboards, iron those clothes, scrub that bathroom floor, get Bud started on that school project.  What I want to do is spend some time scrapping, or decorating for fall, or practicing my crocheting.  But there's no time!  I'll have to put those off until, yes, you guessed it...tomorrow! 

In reality, what is the harm in delaying the scrubbing of the floor an hour while I bring out ceramic pumpkins and silk leaves?  Am I not making a home for my family?  What do I want my children to remember of their childhood?  A clean home with an unhappy mom, or a warm, inviting home (slightly less clean) with a warm, inviting mom?  It's about recognizing the things that make me happy and spending some time at them.  Then the dull To-Do list isn't so bad.  Like Mary Poppins sings, "Just a spoonful of sugar helps the medicine go down!"

Gratitude for yesterday:
a bird with its fluffed out feathers sitting in the lilac bush outside my kitchen window
the smell of ginger cookies baking
the smiles of my boyos as they eat those cookies
Classical Christmas music
watching Bud do his math with ease and confidence
hot coffee with half and half

What's on your list?

 

A bit more on Gratitude

(from Through Faith Alone: 365 Devotional Readings from Martin Luther)

"'It is better to look at what is in front of you than to go looking for what you want. Even this is pointless.  [It's like] trying to catch the wind.'    Ecclesiastes 6:9

Enjoying what you currently have is better than letting your heart wander.  You should make use of what is in front of you rather than wandering around full of desires.  This is what the dog in Aesop's writings did when he chased after the reflection in the water and lost the meat he had in his mouth.  You should use what God has placed before you and be satisfied with it.  You shouldn't try to satisfy your desires because they will never be satisfied.  Instead, you should use whatever God has placed in front of you.  All of it is very good. (Genesis 1:31)"


Luther goes on to challenge us to think about one who sees everything in front of him as nothing but a nuisance.  He doesn't use or enjoy these gifts.  Instead he lets his heart roam in discontent, searching for something different.  Maybe a different house, a different spouse, a different job, a different car.  More money, more possessions, more recognition.  And this does nothing but lead us to more despair and discontent.  It is, as quoted from Ecclessiastes, pointless.  It's like trying to catch the wind.  It cannot be done no matter how hard we work at it, how long we try or what methods we use.  We will never be able to satisfy ourselves. 

God has given us just what is needed for our seasons of life.  And, I believe, that when we respect that fact and give thanks for His goodness, He will grace us with even more goodness.   

 

 

 

Of Grace and Gratitude

The first phrase that came to mind when I sat down to write this was, "have an attitude of gratitude!"  That, and "remember to count your blessings!"  While both of these could be helpful in reminding us to be thankful, they make me cringe ever so slightly, like hearing fingernails on a chalkboard.  Those phrases come across, to me, as requiring a joy-filled heart even to start.  Or at least causing a, "By golly, nothings ever going to get me down again!" reaction once the attitude has been changed and the blessings have been counted.  You see, I'm slightly pessimistic.  Add that to my struggles with depression and I quite often find it hard to believe that my joy-filled heart will remain so for long.  That's life in this sinful world.  Sorrows come.  But the Lord is a gracious and loving Lord who has, in reality, filled our lives with every good and perfect thing.  It's just hard to see all that abundance in our own lives.  It's easy to see it in other people's lives.  Ever notice that?  The grass is always greener...

So, let's start a Gratitude Journal!  Let's stop looking out at everyone else's seemingly perfect lives and let's look down and see the gracious gifts we have right at our own feet.  Let's reflect at the end of each day and make a conscious effort to acknowledge the bits of happiness we experienced during the day.  My Gratitude Journal is a small spiral notebook I picked up at Target or some such place.  I keep it in a drawer by my bed along with a pen.  And, when I remember, I write down the things that made me smile that day; the things that brought me joy.  I write down things like "Mouse's giggle", or "Creamy coffee on the patio, listening to the birds sing", or "a drive in the fall colors."  Some days there doesn't seem there's much to write so I write the basics.  Our health, my hubby, the dog, food on the table.  Doesn't really matter what gets written.  It doesn't have to be anything poetic, either!  Just get into the habit of acknowledging the good.  Eventually, we'll begin to see good in everything we have.  And the more we see good in what we have, the less we will look elsewhere for what we think we need.  God is good.  And so is everything He gives to us.

Gratitude is the heart's memory.

                  -  French proverb