365 Grateful

The leaves are out on the trees!

My Lenten Journey Begins

Ash Wednesday is tomorrow.  For Christians, Ash Wednesday marks the beginning of Lent.  40 days of looking inward, reflection, and meditation.  Lent concludes with Easter Sunday.

When Lent approaches, many people take things away to help bring them closer to God.  Social Media, chocolate, caffeine, the list goes on and on.  I've found over the years that craving chocolate for 40 days does absolutely nothing to draw me closer to God.  It does bring me closer to Dove chocolate, which culminates in a good 24 hour binge of chocolate eating on Easter Sunday.  I'm still not sure how this brings me closer to God....

Years ago, I decided to start adding something to my life in Lent.  Something to help draw me closer to God every day.  Something I should be doing, but don't always do.  Praying, Bible study, mediation, the list goes on.  Over the years, I have always done something to help me walk a little closer to God.

This year, I am going to be keeping a Gratitude Journal.


Inside the front cover of my journal.
I've got a plan for the front cover, but it won't be ready until tonight,
we will be burning the palms from last year to make the
ashes for the Ash Weds. service tomorrow.

40 days of thankfulness of the things I am thankful for.  I can draw a picture, take a picture, add a memento, etc., but each item that goes into my journal must have a quick sentence or two, telling why I am thankful, what great thing it represents, or it's significance to my life.

Can you imagine?  40 days of focusing on finding the good in my life. 

I try to do it here.  I really do search for the good and the funny as much as I can, or else I find myself spiraling down into a bottomless pit of depression and bad thoughts.  Not every day is a good day, but every day has something good about it.  The sunrise.  (Hey!  I'm here for another day!)  The sunset.  (I survived this day.  Tomorrow is a new one, with no mistakes in it yet!)  The amazing kids I work with, my own children, the lady in the grocery store who hands her extra coupons to people in the check out line.  The young man with Down's Syndrome who bags at the grocery store and always has a smile and a positive thing to say to every person who comes through his line.

If you are a Christian, and you are looking for a way to observe Lent this year, I invite you to join me in keeping a Gratitude Journal for the next 40 days. 

What a difference we can make in the world when we focus on finding the good in the world around us.



I added this to my journal last week.
One of my little girls made this for me.
She came to this country 4 years ago from an orphanage.
When she came, she couldn't walk, or hold up her own head.
After running down the hall to come to class,
she made this bracelet for me, all the while chatting about
what she is learning in school, and the latest book she was reading.
What a gift this young lady is.
And what a gift her family is to this young lady.

365 Garateful

AKA: Random Pictures.   Things I an thankful for in the month of February.

Sunrise over the fields at the high school.

The Jones Falls, Baltimore City.

Cat in a basket!

Roads that are clear, and for the crews that clear them.

A picture from the Women's Retreat.  On the grounds of the conference center.

Fires that keep us warm, and time to gather around and spend time with one another.

Still more snow.  Happy that this was just a clipper and there was no significant accumulation.

What were you thankful for last month?

365 Grateful

One of my resolutions for this year was to concentrate on being more grateful for the gifts that I have.  Not for what I want, but for what I have.  I've been doing my best to document the things that I am grateful for via pictures.  I wanted to share some of the pictures from this past month, and why I'm thankful for these things...

 

 

 

Food.  Leftovers.  Canning.
I am  fortunate enough to know how to cook from scratch.
I can save money by cooking from scratch, and the food is better for us.
I learned how to can when I was very young.  Whether I grow the food in my own
garden, pick it at a pick  your own farm, or get it at a farmer's market,
I am preserving it at the height of flavor and nutrition for us to eat later.
Leftovers provide our lunches many days, and sometimes, the boys will come home
and fill up shopping bags full of "good food" to take back to school with them.

This picture was taken at a Girl Scout Gold Award Workshop.
The Gold Award is the Girl Scout equivalent to the Eagle Scout.
I was the advisor to a young lady who ran a workshop entitled "Girls in Engineering".
This is from the egg drop.  The young girls in her workshop created
containers to drop the eggs from a second floor balcony
down to the first floor.  Sadly, the egg in this container did not survive.

The young lady who ran this workshop faced some significant personal challenges this year.
In the midst of all of it, she managed to pull together an amazing workshop.
She is an amazing, wonderful young woman.
I am so very proud of her and all that she managed to accomplish!

My mother-in-laws angel food cake.
Even though she is beginning to show signs of dementia,
the woman can still cook a really good cake.

The beauty of the world around me.
Full Moon rising over the Burg where I live.

Luna.
My daughter's cat.
Just look at those adorable kitty eyes, and that playful attitude.
I love this kitty!

The cousins.
Dr. Who Monopoly.
My sister's kids and my kids gathered together over break
and played a 5 hour game of Monopoly.
Unfortunately for middle child, the other 5 kids ganged up on him and ended up
defeating him.
He is demanding a rematch over spring break.
Family is a wonderful thing.
Cherish them while you have them!

And lastly, snow and snow days.  Every day we have a day off of school, or school is delayed, I am given more time to spend at home with my kids.  More time to play, more time to talk, and more time to savor being together with them.  Treasured time and treasured memories.  I am thankful for them all.