gratitude challenge wrap-up - day 30

Today I am thankful for the season of Thanksgiving and the fact that this gratitude challenge has truly shown me how much I have to be thankful for each day -- even on the really bad days. In the beginning it was sometimes challenging to find something to focus my gratitude on each day, but in the last week or so my problem has been more of deciding which thing to single out each day. So I guess the challenge worked, in the sense that it conditioned me to recognize the blessings in my life more readily than I was doing before. I think, however, that it also showed me that while I have much to be thankful for, I do not always live as if that were the case. Merely recognizing my blessings does not always translate into living out my gratitude, especially as that concerns those closest to me. And for that I am sorry. So as I enter the Christmas season, which in and of itself highlights the greatest Gift given to man, my prayer is that I would acknowledge my many blessings not only in words but in attitude and actions as well.

gratitude challenge day 29

Today I am deeply thankful for the precious Holy Spirit and the conviction of sin He brings that leads to repentance. This week I was convicted of some habits -- one in particular -- that I need to abandon. While I'm the first to admit that it is no fun to feel the weight of the Holy Spirit's conviction, it is also such a blessing because it reminds me that God cares; that He is dealing with me; and that He is true to His promise never to let me go. Last night Sydney joyfully told me -- in different words than I'm going to use to express what she said -- that she has begun to feel the weight of her conscience immediately when she does something wrong, and how she is thankful that God sees fit to deal with her so directly at such a young age. She perceives that many kids her age, as well as teenagers, don't appear to hear or heed the warnings of conscience anymore, and she, like me, is so thankful to feel the hand of God in her life.

gratitude challenge day 28

Today I'm thankful for holiday traditions. This morning Sydney and I ventured out to brave the "Black Friday" crowds at Target at 6 a.m. We went more out of tradition than need, as my Christmas shopping is basically done. It was fun to see the crowds stretching around the building, anxious to get in. It was a good lesson for Sydney in greed, materialism, and the silliness of it all. Afterward we had a relaxing breakfast at our favorite hangout, Panera. It was a fun outing, although significantly scaled down from some of the post-Thanksgiving shopping I've done in past years (one year I accompanied my sister an an all-day Black Friday shopping trip in which she attempted to accomplish the entirety of her Christmas shopping on that day). But it was good to approach the day from the standpoint of tradition rather than frenzy and to put the whole materialism-of-Christmas thing in perspective. Most of all, it was fun to do it together, and I think Sydney felt special being able to share the morning with me.

gratitude challenge day 27: Happy Thanksgiving!

When she got up this morning, Tess sat down at the table and made a list of all the things she is thankful for. I can't do better than this, so I thought I'd post her list today:

"I'm thankful to Jesus for . . .

My family
My violin
My teachers
My schools
My clothes
Religious freedom
My Bible
My toys
Food & water
My house
Education
Love
Music
God
Church
Weather
Democracy
Help from family
Laws
Pets
Pastors
Prayer
Friends"

Happy Thanksgiving!

gratitude challenge day 26

Tonight I am thankful for the ministry of my local church. Our church really puts things in perspective by holding services on every holiday, reminding us that Christ should always be our focus. We attended a lovely Thanksgiving service tonight and look forward to other special services on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day. The holiday season is much more meaningful -- and peaceful -- when we keep the Reason at the center.

gratitude challenge day 25

Today I am thankful for my good friend, Patti, who has the gift of being so helpful, especially in the little details. She is thoughtful in ways that I never even think of, like doing errands she knows I won't get around to or offering to take my kids to school on my day off - so that I don't have to get dressed all day if I don't want to. Most of all, she loves my girls and they love her, and I never think twice when they are in her care. She is the kind of friend who defines the true meaning of friendship, and everyone should be so blessed as to have such a person in their lives.

gratitude challenge day 24

Today was a long day, with work and motherhood and bible study responsibilities all overlapping to keep me running from one thing to the next. But it's a holiday week, which means tomorrow is my "Friday" for work purposes. So today I am thankful for the gift of anticipation - that special ability to be able to look past the not-so-pleasant present toward a better future. Isn't that a big part of a Christian's worldview anyway?

And I am thankful for the gift of unexpected laughter that I found with my fellow BSF leaders tonight. It ended a long day on a light note.

gratitude challenge day 23

It seems only fitting that I spend one of my gratitude entries appreciating the very nice bloggers I have met since I've been posting here. It is so amazing to be able to connect with people I have much in common with but would never otherwise know if not for the wonder of the blogosphere. Some of the wonderful women I have come to consider my "internet friends" include Chel at Chasing Contentment (who just made me some beautiful bracelets - go check out her jewelry shop!) and Jennifer at Snapshot (we happen to be involved in the same Bible study, just from opposite ends of the U.S.). I am thankful for the opportunity to know them, and for the encouragement, smiles, and sense of camaraderie I have received from visiting their blogs.

gratitude challenge day 22

Today was supposed to be a fun day out with my sister. We had planned to go to the movies and lunch in celebration of our respective birthdays, and then we had an appointment to take our kids for a cousins Christmas photo at the mall. Well, the movie was good - except for the minor fender bender we had leaving the parking lot -- and lunch was fine, and the photos turned out well, except that the whole mall experience was way too stressful for both us and the kids, especially after such a full day. I had not realized until today that the holiday crowds are already in full swing. So while I am thankful for the fun of the early part of the day, I am most thankful to be reminded that I have a nice, quiet, uncrowded place to come home to. And I am thankful right now to be home.

gratitude challenge day 21

Tonight I'm thankful for the fact that I get a break from early morning BSF leaders tomorrow, which means I'm not required to get up while it's still dark. I love leaders' meetings, but it is nice to have a Friday night stretch ahead of me without knowing I have to get to bed early. We spent a nice night shopping and eating out as a family.

gratitude challenge day 20

Today I'm thankful for a quiet, uneventful, regular day at work after the busyness of the last few days. I complain about my job A LOT but in truth I am thankful to have it and to have the flexibility it affords me to do all the other stuff I need to do.

gratitude challenge day 19

I have a funny mix of things to be thankful for today.

I'm thankful that my daughter's little hamster appears to be feeling better. We were worried that the poor thing might be leaving us, and I really wasn't looking forward to dealing with Tess's grief on that count.

Also, today was another travel day for work - this time with a group from my firm to attend a holiday dinner event with some clients. That might sound like a fun outing to some people, but it's pretty painful for me. I'm not a social person, and it is very difficult for me to find a sufficient number of "small talk" subjects to sustain me through a long cocktail hour. So tonight I'm thankful that the cocktail hour was shorter than usual, my assigned dinner companions were pretty easy to talk to, and the whole thing wrapped up earlier than I thought it would. And I made it home. And it's OVER.

gratitude challenge day 18

Today was a travel day for work. I always get a little stressed on a day like this because of traffic and directions (which I am pretty bad at following) and the fear of getting lost and being late (both of which I do on a pretty consistent basis). But today went smoothly, with not as much traffic as I thought, and I actually ended up finishing my business and heading home earlier than hoped.

So today I am thankful for God's protection and care for me, even in the small details like finding a suitable parking spot, and for the faithful prayers of my husband, my kids, and my BSF group. They held me up today, and even in the midst of all the stresses I had peace.

gratitude challenge day 17

Today I am thankful for my Bible. That I can hold God's words in my hands and read His instructions for my life is an amazing privilege that I so often take for granted. In these uncertain and increasingly hostile times, I am reassured that God's standards don't change, and He promises that His word will endure.

gratitude challenge day 16

This afternoon the girls and I met a friend and her daughter to paint Christmas ornaments at our local pottery place. I am thankful for a relaxing outing with good friends, who are comfortable talking about anything or nothing, and a chance to be creative and encourage creativity in my girls.

On a humorous note: As we drove home the girls started bickering, a common occurrence that gets on my nerves and usually leads to some extreme whining on the part of my youngest. As Tess launched into her usual "poor me" routine, Sydney sharply reprimanded her, "Tess, you're always groaning -- just like the Israelites!" Now that was one I didn't see coming.

gratitude challenge day 15

I'm not proud of myself today. I've been in a bad mood and have lashed out at everyone around me. What can I be thankful for on such a day? Well, forgiveness I guess. My family hasn't thrown me out in the street yet. And after this sort of a day it's good to remember (though hard to understand) that God loves me, no matter how unlovable I act, and offers me a clean slate. That's actually a lot to be thankful for. And I am.

gratitude challenge day 14

Tonight I am thankful that my daughters are always happy to see me at the end of the day. Their warm welcome has a way of putting everything else in perspective.

gratitude challenge day 13

Today I am so thankful for dear friends who I've known forever yet become more precious to me with the passage of time. Tonight I had dinner with two of my oldest friends, Lysa and Tamara. The three of us met sometime in the early 90's when we all happened to work at the same downtown law firm. Many of our shared memories and jokes hearken back to those days. But over time each of these 2 have become so much more than work colleagues to me.

Lysa eventually got married and moved to Minnesota; Tamara left the firm, went back to school on the East Coast to get her Master's, and now lives about 2 hours away from me with her husband and two adorable boys. I'm still where I always was, since I seem to be incapable of change. Anyway, the three of us try to get together for a girls' dinner whenever Lysa comes to town, and tonight was the first night in a year that we were able to do so.

How precious it is to spend time with people who basically know your whole story. These women have been with me through a large percentage of my life. They oohed and aahed at the birth of my kids. They've listened to my whining about the dysfunction in my family. They've heard about my job frustrations more times than I can count. The two of them had a big part in holding me up last year when I quit my job, and then ended up not quitting my job after a month of indecision and stress. And I know that over the years I've been able to do the same for them in a bunch of situations too.

So today I am deeply grateful for the gift of friendship. And for the opportunity to reconnect. And for the bonds of memory, shared experiences, and love that stretch over time and distance to keep us connected.

gratitude challenge day 12

This week I learned that my child sponsorship relationship with a little girl in Honduras has ended due to World Vision's completion of their project in her community. It has been my privilege to sponsor this child for the past 6 years, and our family is sad to be losing contact with her.

I used this opportunity, however, to choose another child to sponsor through Compassion. Now each of the four members of our family has our own sponsored child through Compassion, and we are privileged to know that our little bit of support touches lives in Haiti, Thailand, Uganda, and India.

So today I am thankful for the opportunity to touch someone else's life across the globe through the faithful dedication of organizations like Compassion and World Vision.

gratitude challenge day 11

Wow, Day 11 already. It's not only hard for me to believe that I've actually stuck with this gratitude thing for 11 days straight, but also simply that it's already the 11th of November! Time is flying this year.

Today I'm grateful for my dad, not only because he's always been a fabulous father but because he outdoes himself in the role of grandpa, or "Pawkin, " as all the grandkids call him. (The "Pawkin" thing started with my youngest, Tess, who we think was trying to mimic his habit of calling her "Pumpkin." As soon as she could talk, my dad was "Pawkin" to her -- and to every one of my nieces and nephews since.)

My girls get out of school at noon for the rest of this week, and my dad is so gracious to pick them up and entertain them so I don't have to miss work. His regular routine is to pick them up from school on Thursdays, and the girls so look forward to their time together that if I happen to show up on a Thursday they are way underwhelmed to see me.

He is every bit the stereotypical doting grandfather, and I so appreciate his love for my kids, and for me.

gratitude challenge day 10

I have much to be thankful for today. After a miserable first quarter at a new school, we re-enrolled the girls at their former school and they started there today. I'm so thankful for the many friendly faces that greeted them -- and me-- and the ease with which they appear to have slipped back into their old routines.

I'm also thankful for the the opportunity to witness spiritual growth in my children. Tonight after BSF, Sydney told me how she realized that the reason for the daily discussion questions is not to impress the teacher or the other kids with her answers, but to cause her to grow closer to God.

Overall, a happy and significant day in the lives of my children. And I am grateful.

gratitude challenge day 9

Today I am thankful for the ease and enjoyment of an unstructured day. We ended up taking a short shopping trip out of town in the morning and relaxing around the house in the afternoon. It was nice just to be together without a schedule to keep. On the way back from our little trip we managed to take a detour and actually get lost -- on a route my husband drives to/from work every day -- but even that episode added to the adventure and fun of the day.

gratitude challenge day 8

Before this day even really begins, I know what I am thankful for. Because today is my sister's birthday, so it makes perfect sense to use today to appreciate her presence in my life.

Being sisters is a love-hate thing. That fact, which I know well from my own experience, is confirmed for me every day in the lives of my own 2 girls. I often tell my girls that I know it can be frustrating to have a sister but that someday they will be thankful for each other and be each other's best friends. This comment is usually met by a lot of eye rolling. But they can't deny the fact that my sister and I are, for the most part, good friends, and we travelled a pretty rocky road to get to this place.

My sister is not at all like me, and the differences were even more stark during our teenage and young adult years. But time and maturity has smoothed over a lot of the rough places, and we have learned the value of just being honest with each other and appreciating the fact that we see many things differently but we have much in common too.

So happy birthday to my sister, the girl who knows more about me than any other woman on the face of the earth -- and loves me anyway.

gratitude challenge day 7

Today I am thankful for crisp fall sunshine, for ipod music played really loud in the car, and for a cinnamon crunch bagel with hazelnut cream cheese from Panera. Mostly I'm thankful it's Friday.

gratitude challenge day 6

Today I am thankful for the pleasure of a carefree day. I took a vacation day and joined my mom and her work colleagues on their annual Christmas shopping trip. My Christmas shopping is basically already done, but it was a nice treat to spend a sunny fall day out shopping, having lunch, and laughing with a group of like-minded women. As a bonus, I somehow managed to spend only $24 all day and also enjoyed the discovery of an enchanting new store, Teavana.

gratitude challenge day 5

I pretty much knew what I'd be thankful for today; it's what I'm thankful for every Wednesday. And actually there were a number of things today that I could choose from, but I'm sticking with my original thought. I am so thankful for Tess's violin teacher, who insists on excellence but encourages and praises her students in such a genuine way. Tess looks forward to violin each week, practices faithfully, and really loves her newfound talent. I recognize that much of her enthusiasm is due to her wonderful teacher, and I am thankful for that each time we go to a lesson.

gratitude challenge day 4

Today I'm thankful for my dear husband. I'm thankful for him everyday, but today I really thought about why. He is so solid. He is truly the anchor of our family. The way his mind works amazes me. He processes information very differently from me, yet he seems to have such clarity about things once he's analyzed them. He likes to say he thinks "outside the box." I think that's probably very true.

He is a wonderful spiritual leader. In the years we've been married he's grown so much in his faith and knowledge of God. He studies hard to increase that knowledge, and when I question something he usually has an answer. It is a treat for me when I come across a piece of information he doesn't know.

He is insightful and discerning about people, issues, and circumstances. It's the kind of thing where I'll struggle with how to handle a situation and he'll come up with something that seems completely off-the-wall, but as things develop it usually turns out he was right. I think the difference is that my first instinct is always to address the symptoms of a situation, while he looks past the specifics to the underlying cause or motivation.

He is God's gift to me in a hundred different ways, and I don't appreciate him enough. But I am grateful for him today. Thanks for always being there, K. I love you.

gratitude challenge day 3

Today was a tough day. It was the kind of day that I would normally be glad to have over and forget. But toward the end of the day I remembered that I can't let this day pass from existence without finding one thing to be grateful for. And once I started thinking about it, I actually found more than one! And then the day didn't seem so bad after all.

So today I am thankful for my friend Barbi, who is unlike me in almost every way except that she loves Jesus and her kids, and somehow those similarities make up for all the differences. She encouraged me today in the midst of a difficult situation. She let me pour out my worries. She didn't have the answer, but she listened. She didn't minimize the problem or try to impose what she thought I should do. She made me laugh. And at the end of our short time together, I felt better.

gratitude challenge day 2

Today the girls and I attended church twice. Tess's school choir sang a special number at the church affiliated with the girls' school (which happens not to be our regular church), so we attended that service and then hurried over to attend bible class and service with our own church family.

I began to think about how blessed we are to live in a country where the freedom to attend church openly - and as often as you like -- is still so prevalent that most people take it for granted. I thought about Christians in other countries who suffer persecution for meeting together and many times are unable to do so, even secretly. And I said a prayer of thanks for the years of God's favor that we as a country have experienced.

30 days of gratitude

I read this idea in a magazine; it was actually presented as a scrapbooking idea but I have decided to transform it into a blog challege for myself. The "idea" is to chronicle one thing that you are thankful for each day during the month of November. The article promoted the idea of taking a photo a day of something/someone you are thankful for, but I think that might be too ambitious for me. So my goal is just to find one thing each day and record it here. Now, I know I have sooo much more than 30 things to be thankful for, but sometimes I think I get so focused on everything I think is wrong -- with the world, with my job, with my family, with my house, etc etc etc -- that I'm sure there are many days that pass without my actually experiencing any feelings of gratitude of all. Maybe that's why this idea appeals to me. They say it takes 3 weeks to form a new habit. I'm thinking after 30 days of looking for reasons to be grateful, I might have a better outlook on life.

So - here we go. The items are going to be random, not in order of importance or anything like that. My idea is simply to focus on one thing each day.

And today I am grateful for my BSF leaders' group. These are 20-some women who are my sisters in Christ, some of whom I know and love well, others of whom I know only from their interaction in our weekly Saturday morning study. Each of them is a blessing, an encouragement, and a godly example to me. They remind me each week that I am not alone in the struggle to become more like Christ in a world that is farther from Him than ever.