Gratitude

I am so thankful for rest.

I will always fight for it. To have rest and reflection is to have life.

While unpacking and repacking to move to Bay City, I have thought numerous times, I have too much stuff. As I dropped a glass Pyrex bowl on the garage floor, and it proceeded to shatter into a million pieces I thought to myself, "Good. One less thing."

Having things is stressful. Simplicity as a basis for living is especially attractive as I have all of my things in one place and not enough places to put them. It makes me reminisce about life in Haiti. I'm doing some major down sizing. One Pyrex at a time. It's incredibly freeing. I'm tempted to try to not buy one new thing for year (inspired by a story of a woman who did this).

This is where I admire my Mama. She lives a life of simplicity. I was using my parents bedroom as a temporary storage space and amidst the clutter, noticed a book entitled One Thousand Gifts on her dresser. The subtitle reads, a dare to live fully right where you are.

I skimmed the pages and found this quote:

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

It made my heart happy. And reminded me of the many things for which I am grateful. 
- I am thankful for friends; like Katie, whom I was able to spend a few hours with over out-of-our-price-range-but-seriously-delicious seafood. 
- I am thankful for my home. 
- I am thankful for my dog. 
- I am thankful for neighbors who I can drink wine with on their back porch and who let me go walking with them around the block. 
- I am thankful for my car that just drove me to a beautiful wedding celebration in TX and is about to take me to Chicago for another. 
- I am thankful for dancing. 
- I am thankful for Spotify. 
- I am thankful for the redeeming love of Christ and how it transforms lives.  
- I am thankful for the coming year in Bay City. 
- I am thankful for skirts. Especially the one I just realized can also be a dress.
- I am thankful for camping and perfectly roasted marshmallows. And stars. And rivers.
- I am thankful for people who challenge me. 
- I am thankful for cocoa puffs.
- I am thankful for nail polish and cuticle pusher backers. 
- I am thankful for everyday epiphanies. 
- I am thankful for this journey of life and for its many encounters with our one true Creator. 


God is so good.