TreasuresInTerraCotta

This week I listed my one-thousandth gift!   After reading the book I started my list.  As you might expect I wrote ferociously for a while.  I would work on my list intentionally and somewhat methodically.  Then days would pass and I would realize my gratitude journal was on the table...at the bottom of the stack.  But my heart and my attitude kept missing the presence of gratitude and thankfulness, so I would pick it back up again.  And this week I wrote 1000! Since the beginning I wondered what 1000 would be.  Whether I would choose it intentionally or whether it would very naturally be something fabulous.  As it turns out, it was both.  I sat and pondered the "gifts" of the day and started writing.  A comment kept rolling around in my mind and I decided that it was a gift.  Just a little comment, posted on a blog, a sort of challenge, that had me pondering and writing.  Yes, I think it's a gift....

We are nearing the end of our journey through One Thousand Gifts .  We won't meet again until after Thanksgiving, so you have two weeks to read the last three chapters.  (I would also recommend reading the Afterward.) I have formulated some questions for these chapters and posted them here .  These questions barely scratch the surface of the chapters but, as I mentioned at the beginning, it is my intent to foster some intentional thinking and journaling on at least a few of the new concepts we are meeting in these pages. Have a wonderful thanksgiving!  Now, more than ever, is a time to practice giving thanks for all that God has given us. Otherwise the stress of feeding a small army, fretting over Christmas presents, braving the grocery store this week and all the unspoken and unmet expectations loom large.  Without intentionally  practicing our thanksgiving and thanksliving we are prone to fall into Satan's trap of ...

I had sick kids last week and missed our group discussion and, apparently, also failed to post this week's chapters and homework. I am glad to be revisiting these chapters a second time around.  When I read One Thousand Gifts the first time I felt like I was tracking along with her pretty well through chapter 5 or so.  After that I had the sense that I was more disengaged.  I'm not sure if I was just distracted by life at the time.  Or if my mind was too full from the first few chapters and just couldn't handle any more.  Or if I just wasn't ready or willing to go to the next level.  I am reading words in these chapters that I could swear I have never read before!   I hope you're hanging in there with us as well.  I absolutely believe that this is one of those rare books that can be read again and again with something new affecting you each time. For November 17th we'll read Chapters 6-8. Here's the  link for...

I hope you are enjoying One Thousand Gifts . Does it feel like you want to mark every page, highlight every other paragraph or put it under you pillow in hopes to absorb, absorb, absorb.  I know not everyone will feel that way, but I sure do. We had a great discussion today in our Bible/book study group. It is obvious that we are all processing new ideas, being wow-ed by new concepts and trying to let them work in our lives. For next week we will read Chapter 4 and Chapter 5. You can find some questions to help focus you thoughts  here . It's never too late to join in. "Surely the Lord is in this place, and I did not know it." Genesis 28:16

Like it or not, we are headed toward the Holidays.  What better time to begin to prepare than now. I don't mean with shopping or decorating.  I mean to prepare our hearts. Based on my own experience and the shared experiences of many friends, the preparation of the heart is greatly needed.  It's easy to overlook.  It affects everything and everyone.  And sometimes it seems elusive. But I can promise that the effort to prepare will not be wasted.   There are many ways to prepare, but the step my Bible study group has intentionally taken is to do a book study (and, little do they know, I am also giving them homework!). We finished our Fall study last week, and in the past we have taken an extended break over Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Year's. This year we are doing it differently.  We will fill November and spill into the first week of December reading and discussing  One Thousand Gifts by Ann Voska...