On Giving Thanks.

In that moment just before she rises, the sky explodes. 

There's this raw beauty that just takes my breath away. 

I pause, close my eyes and breathe in it slow. 

I can't help but praise God.  

As the sun greets me, I linger just awhile longer. 

I give thanks. For what lies before me is a gift.

At the beginning of the year, I started my second 1000 Gifts List. I was not so diligent or consistent this year. There were even a few months where my notebook sat, untouched, neglected, collecting dust. Those months were hard and wildly ugly.

I picked up that notebook at the end of October resolving to start again. Resolving to focus once again on gratitude and counting my blessings. There's something life changing, life-giving, about naming our gifts one-by-one. Most especially in the midst of a storm.

This jotting and numbering of gifts. I speak about it often; suggesting it as though a cure for many ailments. Those hard days, sick days, weary days, those days that are full and fast. Those days when nothing seems to go right. But something did go right. Seek.It.Out. Write.It.Down.  

Gratitude bestows reverence, allowing us to encounter everyday epiphanies, those transcendent moments of awe that change forever how we experience life and the world. ~Sarah Ban Breathnach

 Each season has it's own pace. Winter is a perfect time to slow down; rest, reflect and recharge. 

More nature.

More conversation. 

More eye contact. 

More snuggling.

More baking. 

More writing. 

More reading. 

More Jesus. 

More numbering these gifts. 

..."a Personal Revolution of Gratitude turns everything around."

The Long Winter.

For the first time ever in my life, I d e s p i s e wintertime in Ohio. So much that I dream (frequently!) of moving. Yes, just selling our current house (that I LOVE and wish could just move with us!), packing up and moving south.  South or southwest; something like that.
Winter with three littles is …torturous…to all involved. For us grown-ups, it's stuck inside with these ticking time bombs of flesh and bone. They’re loud. They’re whiny. They’re not tired, because they’re not depleting all that energy on a daily basis, in fact, it’s like it just keeps building and they keep sleeping less and less. While ours seems depleting moment by moment (how is that?!) And jumping races down the hall, running circles in the house and tumbling in the bounce house only get you so far!
For them, I’m sure it’s just as tough, maybe tougher. We’re more impatient. We’re more exhausted. We like to snuggle up, drink hot coffee and veg out. They’re more like, "Hello?! Come play with us!”
And I’m all like, “Is nap time yet?” (Knowing full well that only one of my three naps these days.)

BURNOUT.
I’m just burned out. We’re all burned out. We need the outdoors. We need warm breezes, sunshine, running, skipping, jumping, bike-riding, baseball, rock- skipping and feeding fish at the pond. Outdoors.
You might as well say it’s been freezing since November. And snowing almost as long. So yea, we’re tired of it. The past four months have felt like a year.
But, here we are, 20 (or so) days from the first of spring. And with it comes a promise of brighter, warmer and more enjoyable days. I really am thankful for the days I’ve been given and even though I’ve just used half a page complaining about the recent weather, I do work at giving thanks in the simple things each day (on my second 1000 Gifts list!). I’ve even given thanks for the sparkle of the snow in the sunshine (that we see a little more of lately, thank you God!), the giant fluffy flakes that have fallen so often and even in the tenth of an inch of ice that coated everything recently. It’s beautiful. It’s peaceful. It’s nature at her wintertime finest. Until my three rambunctious, stir-crazy boys are bouncing off the walls because they want to go outside and play baseball or ride bikes and cry about wearing their coats and snow suits (and keep asking, “Can we set up the swimming pool?!” and "Can I please wear my flip-flops?"), but cannot because "the white stuff just keeps falling from the sky".
So yea, bring on the big thaw. Bloom, Forsythia, BLOOM. Come on spring, please arrive on time. And stay, please stay.

A Time For Everything.

 

Wintertime in the country is beautiful...breathtaking even. For a grownup, maybe.  For little ones, not so much. Sure, the snow can be fun, sledding is such a blast. But they only enjoy it for so long. And with a windchill of -15 degrees lately, they won't be enjoying it that much at all. And, we're running out of creative indoor play ideas. We make lots of messes then race or dance like crazy people to clean it up. We read lots of books. But these boys have so much energy stored up, lately, we don't even make it through a book and someone needs to race a few laps around the house. The bounce house the boys received for Christmas (a genius gift from Grammy!) is a great outlet. Several times a day, I require the boys to stop and go to the basement to "bounce it out". And I'm on Pinterest often looking for new ideas.
Lately, the music is blasting a little more to not only encourage movement, but also singing and swaying to the beat seems to lighten the moodiest blues (mine and theirs!). We're baking more too, the older boys seems to enjoy making messes and seeing their "creation" turn into something edible (most of the time, that is).

When the sun does shine brightly, we stand at the big back door and soak it in. We all dearly miss regular sunshine. We dream of warm breezes, chasing butterflies, riding bikes and cool sprinklers. The other day, E said to me, "Mommy, we should move to an island where it's warm and we can swim every day." (Smart kid.)
Recently, after grumbling about the weather for the "umpteenth" time, I was reminded of something from God's Word. And God's Word is always a good word.



There is a time for everything. While Winter is tough and seems so very long, it's nice to look forward to Spring and once we've had enough rain and everything has blossomed or re-birthed, we look forward to Summer. When everything is playful, smells lovely, and butterflies dance around our backyard. Once we've had enough dry, desert-like heat, we look forward to Fall when the cooler breeze blows and everything once again changes color. It's like nature sighs a big sigh of relief during fall time. Then, Winter blows in cold and snow blankets a sleepy earth and nature seems to quiet and still. A time for rest.

Yes, I am thankful for changing seasons. I am thankful for newness at the end of each one. I am thankful for all the beauty we can experience throughout the year as we watch God's creation rebirth, rebuild and eventually, rest before starting over again.

There is a time for everything.

The best part?

The changing seasons remind us that we can be renewed over and over again.

 

Ecclesiastes 3 (NLT)                                                                                                                        A Time for Everything

3 For everything there is a season,
a time for every activity under heaven.
² A time to be born and a time to die.
A time to plant and a time to harvest.
³ A time to kill and a time to heal.
A time to tear down and a time to build up.
⁴ A time to cry and a time to laugh.
A time to grieve and a time to dance.
⁵ A time to scatter stones and a time to gather stones.
A time to embrace and a time to turn away.
⁶ A time to search and a time to quit searching.
A time to keep and a time to throw away.
⁷ A time to tear and a time to mend.
A time to be quiet and a time to speak.
⁸ A time to love and a time to hate.
A time for war and a time for peace.

⁹ What do people really get for all their hard work?
 ¹⁰ I have seen the burden God has placed on us all. 
¹¹ Yet God has made everything beautiful for its own time. He has planted eternity in the human heart, but even so, people cannot see the whole scope of God’s work from beginning to end. 
¹² So I concluded there is nothing better than to be happy and enjoy ourselves as long as we can. ¹³ And people should eat and drink and enjoy the fruits of their labor, for these are gifts from God.
¹⁴ And I know that whatever God does is final. Nothing can be added to it or taken from it. God’s purpose is that people should fear him. 
¹⁵ What is happening now has happened before, and what will happen in the future has happened before, because God makes the same things happen over and over again.