ThankFULLNESS

"All our life is a celebration for us; we are convinced, in fact, that God is always everywhere. We sing while we work, we sing hymns while we sail, we pray while we carry out all life's other occupations. "

Clement of Alexandria (c.150-c.215) Theologian

It started with the small things, like buds bursting. I began to notice. More and more. The light and shade of life. All beautiful in it's own way. Each thing unique and purposeful, somehow.

Life. This messy, beautiful, chaotic, painful, ordered, blessed, life.

Redeeming praise.

Praise the LORD.

Praise God in his sanctuary;

praise him in his mighty heavens.

2 Praise him for his acts of power;

praise him for his surpassing greatness.

3 Praise him with the sounding of the trumpet,

praise him with the harp and lyre,

4 praise him with tambourine and dancing,

praise him with the strings and flute,

Praise him with the clash of cymbals,

praise him with resounding cymbals.

Let everything that has breath praise the LORD.

Praise the LORD.

Psalms 150:1-6 (NIV)

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"Then the LORD God formed man of dust from the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living being."

Genesis 2:7

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A breath of life,

a gift of life,

given back to life in praise and thanksgiving.

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I'm breathing thankfullness today

in...

The way a few brief notes of music, can bring tears to my eyes without warning,

The blue and purple petals, delecate as butterfly wings, of the sweetpeas, we sowed from seed in early Spring. Now just beggining to blossom in the garden,

Times of reflection,

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For...

The grace of every day blessings,

Gifts of joy through children's innocent eyes,

Laying close to the green grass,

Making shapes out of the clouds

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with...

Being "undone" and yet knowing it's not something to be " fixed" just surrendered to in faith.

The honesty of my child's laughter and tears,

The growing depth of love and understanding between me and my soulmate.

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Through...

Flying kites and blue and stormy skies.

Reaching across distances,

Words, and gestures.

Vulnerabilities that kindle compassion and friendship.

Part of The Thousand Gifts list @ Holy Experience
Just click Gratitude on my labels list for more posts xx

Lord I thank you for...

Knowing Jesus is close,

Even in the storms of life,

Knowing that there are friends close by,

To share warmth and light and insight,

The grace of sunlight both in the morning,

And at the days end.

Food in the cupboards,

A Song I love that makes me lift my baby up in the air to dance around the room,

Recycled furniture,

A chance to help somebody,

A chance to except the help of somebody,

A life that feels like a vocation,

A pair of arms that hold me tight, when I need reassurance,

A little face to greet me with a smile,

Little hands to hold,

Little feet to tickle,

Little bodies that wriggle,

A chance to get to know another better,

A chance to say thankyou.

Part of The Thousand Gifts list @ Holy Experience

Just click Gratitude on my labels list for more posts xx

pICTURE of bluebell AT THE TOP by my daughter Emmy

Details

“Are not two sparrows sold for a penny? Yet not one of them will fall to the ground apart from the will of your Father. And even the very hairs of your head are all numbered. So don't be afraid; you are worth more than many sparrows.”

(Matthew 10:29-31)

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Today I've been thinking about the small things, the unoticed things... Details.

How many times do I miss the details.

There is a tree opposite our house. Since we have lived here I have watched it through the seasons.

During Summer it's lush greeness spreads outward and upward. Swollen green leafed open palms praise the blue skies.

During Autumn it's leaves curl into cupped hands, golden, waiting.

At Wintertime the tree is stripped bare, it's structure exposed to the elements. It's branches brittle and vulnerable looking, grasp out at the blank white canvas above. A prayer of supplication.

Now it is Springtime something glorious happens. Upon each new supple offshoot grows a white blossom that opens out into a small candelabra shape. The tree shimmers in it's new adornment.

From here at by bedroom window the plain white blossom of this tree seems overshadowed by the powder puff pinks and ruby red jewels of the cherry and Almond varieties which line our street.

Yet yesterday, walking home my daughter reached up and pulled one of the little blossoms off in her hands.

Looking closely, I was amazed. Although plain white on the outside, inside each petal had it's own distinctive colour. The spectrum of colours was amazing. I literally couldn't find one single blossom alike!

It was as if each flower had been individually painted by hand with it's own custom colour.

All different and unique yet part of the same tree.

So today I thank God for the details.

The small, the unrealsized beauty, the little offerings, the things that go unoticed on the outside yet shine with the handiwork of God at their centre.

For God's greatness adorns the centre of the smallest petals.
In quiet, unoticed places his love blossoms.

"But thou, when thou mayest pray, go into thy chamber, and having shut thy door, pray to thy Father who is in secret, and thy Father who is seeing in secret, shall reward thee manifestly"


The Thousand Gifts

Sunshine on a rainy day!

The Thousand Gifts

The label "Gratitude" in my sidebar is part of a new set of posts inspired by Ann @ Holy Experience One Thousand Gifts list.

Today I'm thinking...
As I watch the rain slide across my window, melting the cars, and the trees, and the overgrown grass in my front garden. That I mostly think of writing my gratitude list at the end of Sunny days not the begining of rainy ones!


The sun creates evaporation. Our spirits soar. We can let go! Raise our open palms to the light!

Yet the rain seems to become absorbed into the pores of our soul. Clouds hang heavy, the day darkens beneath them.

The sunlight sheds light, uplifts, defines the contours of life, brings out the individual colours of nature, inspires. We can go outside, run, leave our cares in the laundry basket!
Whereas the rain, smudges the lines of life. Confines, makes us stay inside. Restricts our plans, makes us look within the rooms in our hearts as well as our homes.


My day today, reflects a little hidden sunlight from muddy puddles. As the rain hits my window and fragments the debris of thoughts and plans and ideas into droplets on windowsills.


I want to thankyou Lord for this rainy day! It reminds me that it doesn't have to be sunny and warm for your light to shine, guide and heal. I don't have to always see or feel your light for it to be there.

Thankyou for this little house, our shelter. The rooms are a little messy, worn by memories and growing souls. Nothing matches, there's always something that needs fixing! Yet I love it, because it's home, and all the imprints of our living here remind me of what it is to be a family.

Thankyou for treasures collected by little hands, shells, shiny stones, feathers and fircones, stored in egg cups and china bowls.

The colourings and pictures taped on the walls, because Tilly is so proud of herself every time she looks a them and points "me draw, me draw!"

The books stacked on the piano, pages and pages of words, well loved and well read.

A ragged, comfortable chair, big enough for a mama and baby to sunuggle up with one of those books on.

A small garden, that was nothing but weeds and rubble surrounded by chicken wire when we first moved in. Now has a swing, three black and white rabbits, a slide, some flowers and a few vegetables thanks to a few helping hands and some busy afternoons working up a sweat!

Thankyou for the laundry! Yes I actually mean it today. Each little vest and sock and dress, all belonging to a little soul, that God has blessed into my life.

Thankyou for homecooked smells from the kitchen. And the vegetable peelings left behind. By a little girl who cooked her first meal all by herself. When did she grow up so quickly!

Thankyou for two little babies keeping eachother awake with laughter even though they were meant to be sleeping! Through my tierd eyes I couldn't help but smile.

Thankyou for the quarreling, learning, growing pains, of children being, living, finding their way toward you together.

Thankyou for sisters who are finding the truth of themselves through the laughter and tears of eachother. Growing into girls that can, live with differences, share together, create together, work together, care for each other.


Thankyou for your light in the darkness Lord,

Your kingdom which grows within through both Sunlight and rainfall.

Shoots of green pushing out from the earth. Bringing forth life from within.

each moment, a gift.

Every moment has within it the possibilty of completness in God. Every moment is a gift.

How can I best respond to the gift of this moment from God?

How can I return the gift he has given me intact.

Pass it along to others?

I don't own the moments of my life even if they are gifts in themselves.

Everything that is true cannot be possessed only impressed with the colour and shape of individual dreams and prayers, joys and pain, intentions, and love.

How do I imprint upon each moment of my life?

Do I bury the moments given to me in disatisfactions and arguments?

Do I see the sacredness of each breath?

The sacredness of each moment beyond the noise and distraction of now!

Each moment is drawn from the wellspring of eternity.

But do I always cup my hands to drink?

The Thousand Gifts

Precious Moments

"Life is not measured by the breaths we take,

but by the moments that take our breath."

May every moment inhale life deeply.

Take the time to stop and stare and watch clouds fray the edges of the horizon.

Over spill with the wonder

and beauty of each single, stilled, second.

Silenced by the fragile, bare branches of winter trees engraving, the distant evening sky.

Painting patterns over the tidy white spaces,

Turning the prose of life into poetry.

Hearing a song in the silence.

Dancing beneath the falling leaves.

The way my little ones hair curls around her ear.

The imperfect stitches of a homemade gift.

The warmth of a coat on a cold winter day.

Bubblebath footprints whispering sofly on the carpet.

A child to small to speak holding her hands in prayer.

The curled pages of a well loved book.

A baby smiling in her sleep :0)

Let me remember to unwrap every moment like the precious gift it is