Pure Joy in Giving Thanks Everyday

     For some months this blog has been left without any posts. I suppose I adored the name, but didn't quite know where I to take it. Every time I thought of a blog, A Beautiful Mess popped into my head. However, I knew I wasn't ready for that level of commitment considering I still have loads of school work to get through. Not to mention I most recently got a job! (I'll talk more about that later.) I've fiddled with ideas concerning fashion, crafts, book reviews, and thousands more (perhaps not that many! read ten or so more). Most of them were things I'd like to do but don't really do often, like art. I needed something that pertained to my life now and wouldn't involve crazy levels of commitment.
     It's obviously taken a while, but I believe I have found what I want to do with this blog. You see when I think of a good book and a cup of tea I think of pure bliss. Sunshine wafts down to a worn, wood table while I sit there quietly sipping my tea and marveling in God's creation. I see the beauty of the morning as the sun rises majestically over the forest behind our backyard. The vision usually has me wearing a cozy sweater on a chilly day, but that's not what I've come to realize is the part that makes this dream so wonderful. It is the quiet time with God and just listening and seeing and being in complete and total awe of the beauty of his creation.
     For about a year now I have held the small things in life in high regard. I believe it is that part of life which makes us who we are. For me it is the way I have always loved to listen to the birds singing outside my window. How I marvel at God's creation: the sky, clouds, trees, the moon, stars, snow, fall leaves, the first flower to bloom in spring outside our front door, and water trickling along in a river. Yes, it is the small things I love: cloud watching on a summer day, making dandelion wishes, driving down the dirt roads with the windows rolled down to let the wind toss and pull my hair.
     Always those little things in life have made me smile. I have loved praising God for his creation, but I never thought to give thanks for each of those small things: the cookies baking in the oven, the sweet taste of bagels, sunlight shining bright in the morning. Lately I have been reading one thousand gifts by Ann Voskamp, and it has taught me so much in these past few days. Giving thanks for those small things in life that often go unnoticed brings such fulfillment. It slows down time, makes me live in the moment (something I'm awful at), and brings joy and contentment. When I give thanks for the small things in the day, they mean so much more for now they are a way to glorify and honor God. The following verse says to give God thanks. I put two different versions because I liked the wording of one and the other helped me better understand the verse, especially concerning the second line.

 

Psalm 50:23

ESV "The one who offers thanksgiving as his sacrifice glorifies me:

to one who order his way rightly

I will show the salvation of God!"

 

NIV "He who sacrifices thank offerings honors me,

and prepares the way

so that I may show him the salvation of God."

 

      I have resolved to make my own list of one thousand gifts God has given me in a day to day lifestyle of giving thanks. I will post them each day or at least the next morning in hopes that you too will learn to live a full life of thanksgiving, though truly I suppose I do this for myself. I am keeping a notebook of it, but I hope that this holds a bit more reliability. I suppose I think, no, I know that this blog is perfect for the small insights of my days at the small things which I can be thankful for.

      Perhaps occasionally I will have other posts on top of my daily thanksgiving of the small things, but the basis of this blog, for now, will be little lists of what I noticed during the day and gave thanks for. Other posts that may show up on this blog: what I'm doing, latest events in my life, my attempts (and hopefully successes) at cooking, crafts and art projects that I happen to make, things God is teaching me, book reviews, studies on Jane Austen girls and/or guys, and other small inconsistent things. The one consistent part of this blog will be thankfulness. I hope you'll jump on to watch this crazy life and be encouraged yourself or just to get to know me. :) Below follow the first three things I am thankful for that I wrote before beginning this journey but was dying to include on the list.

 

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       February 2, 2013 (some time ago right! but that night was so amazing!) Here follows word for word what I wrote down that day, grammatical errors, stupid word choices, and all!

Things I am thankful for:

1. I can see the moon, the beautiful orange moon resting on the horizon nestled between the scarce tree branches on this cold, winter day.

2. There is still snow to walk on, though it hugs the fence and the bases of trees, it is there: cold and crunchy, there to hold my footprints. All the yard is bare, a mudfield, save that snow God saved for me while I paced in the backyard with the cold nipping at my nose, praising God and reveling in His creation, in Nature.

3. I am God's daughter, and I can live for Him. I am able to inherit all the graces of a loving, Christian woman. He is my rock and my salvation and His Word is the spring I go to each day for life.

 

(Today's list will probably appear tomorrow morning or late tonight, for the day is nowhere near done!)