Baby, It's Cold Outside

The header picture is entirely appropriate. The snow is piled higher and deeper than ever. A breeze has knocked the snow out of the trees, though, and the sun is shining weakly through the clouds above. The mountain top is obscured in the clouds as well, creating a sense of a warm cloud duvet above. Unfortunately, the duvet is not a warm one, rather one of super cold as we plummet past -19C. The breeze is gently strumming in the wind chimes outside my kitchen window and I am sitting at my kitchen table with mukluks on. This is a good place to be with the weather out there.
My favourite blog- the one that both convicts and encourages me- has challenged me to add joy to my gratitude. I have enjoyed this, noticing that 'enjoy' encompasses joy. Each day, I find myself become more aware of what I am grateful for and how that in turn promotes joy. Relationships grate less, give more. The little things become the important things. And I notice, with some discomfort, when others I hold in esteem are critical or negative, that I want to correct the behaviour, to bring a not-so-gentle reproach. A gentle answer turns away wrath. I know a reproach that borders on correction would not be helpful, but what can I do instead? I have noticed that if joy and gratitude are living in my heart, those issues that want to plague me are more easily replaced with an attitude of grace. I want that grace to be evident to all! All needs to start at home and move out from there. So, I will continue to pray, that my words will be sweet and my heart remain pure in purpose.
Do you have those people in your life? The ones you want to hold in respect, but continue to challenge you at the core? What is your solution? How do you handle it?
Today, with gratitude in my heart, I will find the joy, look for it. I will continue to be challenged by this blog, A Holy Experience and it's gentle-spoken author, Ann Voskamp. I will let it challenge me to my core, where I need it most. I need to practice the gift of encouragement, to allow it to flourish as I count all the joy in my heart, in my life. Mrs. Voskamp encourages us to list 3 ways we witnessed happiness today.

  1. A son teasing his mother, with kindness and love underneath, rippling through.
  2. My man enjoying a warm morning snuggle with his sleep-tousled wife before he left for work.
  3. Sharing talents and gifts, a quick lesson in using power point to encourage and teach others.
After a long visit with a longtime friend last night, today has been about counting blessings, about considering it all joy. Visiting with a friend and her son today, sharing coffee and goodies, talents and gifts, wisdom and practice, I have been once again challenged by the grace that awaits me. Free gift that it is, such a joy to experience with gratitude in my heart.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Weekend Wanderings

Sunny Saturday. Saturdays, with habits hard to break, are for cleaning, for renewal. We stayed in bed a little late today but awoke to solid daylight showing a new skiff of snow. Sunshine highlights, a machine to clear the snow, helped along by the shovel. Garbage deleted from the house, bathrooms sparkling, kitchen busy with ideas for meals. I love days like this! Sitting here with some Beethoven in quiet contemplation through new speakers, I take the opportunity to meander through the thoughts I have to share today. My family makes me so proud- in a very humbling kind of way! My adult children are living successful lives, each in a satisfying place or moving toward personal satisfaction through schooling or work. I didn't think much about that when we were raising our kids. We thought about values and chose ones that were important to us, to raise our children by. We chose friends who supported those choices. So much of our time was spent in solidifying those choices, driving th
Read more

Wednesday's Wonder

More of the love of life today. I have found out I will share my passion with a lovely young lady in the spring. She is becoming passionate about so many of the same things as me. Her momma is a wonderful role model, a mother of many with a love of life, a passion for women and their unique role. She is a good friend, one with whom I can talk about the deepest and most intimate topics knowing she understands, that she cares for the friendships of women and in this, models so well for her own daughters as they become women and wives and mothers. Now her daughters are loving life, the process of becoming 'lifegivers' being firmly planted in their hearts and minds. They are worth much more than rubies! And they are being taught how to care for the home, to care for children and elders, to care for husbands, to garden, to cook and clean- we are missing this so much in today's 'too busy' times. I am so blessed to call her friend ! More opportunities in this day included
Read more

Christmas Eve

Wonder. Watching a two year old light up, counting angels and cookies. Seeing the delight in an adult child's eyes when the favourite meal is prepared. Anticipating the joy on faces of family when presents are given and shared, when breakfast is made together, when turkey is ready. Hearing voices of family that is away, long phone calls, cards exchanged and letters read. I have noticed that some of my posts are starting with just a word- and I may just keep this up! It helps me to focus on what to write! Wonder is a lovely feeling, right up there with anticipation. I feel awe when I think of Mary, pregnant and single, traveling on a donkey so far from home, to give birth alone (we assume) in a stable. Giving birth is a sacred time, when women receive the gift of motherhood and join with all women of all time in a sisterhood like no other. But did she have her mother there to support her? A chosen midwife? A best friend? A doula? Or was her husband her only support in a time when t
Read more