It's my favorite time of year.
November, the month of intentional thanks-giving.
As our first half of the school year winds down, we're preparing to slow down once again and be intentional with the approaching holidays.
This is the time of the year that I love to spend time creating, crafting and celebrating with my three little arrows. They're still at that age where holiday crafts and small celebrations are exciting. Their eyes still light up at the colors, the sounds and the lights of the season.
We hang leaves and pumpkin pictures and create hand print turkeys. We go on nature hikes where colors are abundant, leaves and pine cones crunch under our feet and creatures skitter about as we adventure about. The days are shorter now and the boys make use of the early darkness to go on night walks and play flashlight tag. We gaze in awe at the awesome night sky and marvel at how God made everything just right.
Hot cocoa, our favorite books, blankets and pillows provide for great cuddling and down time.
There's Thanksgiving to prepare for as we will once again host our family for dinner. There will be extra chairs and tables to bring up. Our house will be full of family, laughter, delicious food and noisy kiddos. And it will be lovely and memorable.
My Thanks Notebook sits on my nightstand. It's a bit tattered and will need taped soon. It's a blessing book; noting all the goodness God has made me privy to. I'm sure I've missed much, but with eyes open to giving thanks, I've witnessed much more than without it.
...for early mornings to myself
...for family and friends who surround us with prayer and support
...for a successful knee surgery for the man
...for an abundance of warm, bright days so far this Fall
...for the little birds that chat, twitter and flit about, making for amusing morning sunrise watching
There's is always, always, always something to be thankful for and writing it down allows our hearts to fully take it in, to savor each little moment, each little gift, each little light into heaven that God allows us to experience. My list is a blessing in itself. There are days when thanks-giving is all I have; it pours out like a cup overflowing under a running faucet. There are other days when I must search for it, but the list. "Our worlds reel unless we rejoice. A song of thanks steadies everything." (A.Voskamp)
The list reminds me. And thanks flows again.
...for quality time with my man
...for an earthly mother and father who love us so well
...for life-saving procedures and friends who have survived
...life experiences that only bend us, not breaking us.
...for grace-strength that comes from somewhere deep within that allows me to withstand the weight of it all
“Running hard after an extraordinary life turns out to be chasing a lie.
The realest extraordinary is always found in the ordinary.
The extra everyone’s looking for — it’s found in ordinary.”
[Marjorie Knight, via Ann Voskamp]
Have you started your list yet? Have you read the book that started a revolution of thanks? Find One Thousand Gifts: A Dare to Live Fully Right Where You Are here
