Day 16

1) Walking out of my study to find my mom making cookies. So many happy memories make this even sweeter. Made my night.

2) Two crazy awesome practice sessions. I love it when things are working and I'm learning!

3) Weekend Naps...an hour nap just felt like pure luxury today. Mmmmm

Day 15

I'm glad, really, that I have to do this at night. Not because it results in a quality post. But because it is one of the times when I feel least grateful. It's ridiculous because it would seem that from such a vantage point life would shine most brilliantly. It is the time when the dust has settled a little and looking back can actually yield some perspective. But I will admit that up until this project my tendency has been to lapse into a slump which allows me to only see the sparks still spluttering upward from the day. This project takes my eyes off of todays discomforts and tomorrows monotony and puts it back where it should be: not only on the immense good which pervades every part of my life but also widens the zoom, placing everything back in perspective. Or at least a few things. It at least ditches the macro setting on my brain.

So today:

1) A beautiful walk taking in this flush of spring:

2) A beautiful time with my mom over lunch. Sweet time together....so much longed for. 

3) Getting to mow the lawn today. I know it sounds funny but its one of my favorite things to do. Just so invigorating. And today was a great day for it. 

Day 13 and 14 (cheating?)

I figure double gratefulness won't hurt me :P So first, here's yesterday:

1) A super fun time hanging out with my brother studying. He was working on Grammar homework. I was thankful to see that after college I was actually equipped to answer a question for him here and there...a far cry from the miscreant little 6th grader I once was who may or may not have failed grammar altogether that year and had to repeat it. Thank you Dr. Kriner for those infuriating grammar quizzes of yours. It seems they finally worked!! :)

2) An enjoyable scrabble game while babysitting. Bother it all if my 12 year old opponent didn't pull a Bingo on me for 50 points right out of the gate!!

3) Lunch at a little hometown mexican restaurant...which coincidently has the best coke in town :D


Annnnnnnd today (Thursday):

More little things seem to come to mind:

1) Sweet tea: I find myself drinking a LOT of it these days. There's actually a fresh made pint of it (used to be a pint of it...now more like a half-pint) sitting beside me in a mason jar. Yeah classy - I know. But it just tastes good out of that old screw-topped lip.

2) My windows-down ride home today.

3) Making it through the entire Fugue from Bach's Partita No. 1. Shew!!!

4) A phrase from this week's memory passage:

"Let anyone who is thirsty come to me and drink. Whoever believes in Me, as scripture has said, rivers of living water shall flow from within them..."

Day 12

1) Insight into what I fear and the reminder to take one thing at a time

2) A couple chapters of helpful reading in a book recommended to me recently

3) Going to see October Baby with my Mom tonight. So so good. Will definitely watch it again someday. Fantastic truth on forgiveness and very well done.

Day 11

1) Truth...even when it's import is greater than my understanding and its call to action feels more powerful than the any pure motivation to pursue it. 

2) Strength to push through the first day of a small new endeavor 

3) Simple undeserved pleasures. An episode of Lark rise to Candle ford is again a restful finish to today.

Day 10

1) Simple Pleasures: 

    - Larkrise to Candleford

    - Gilead

    - Macaroni and Cheese

2) Great late night conversations (last night) that set up this morning beautifully

3) Challenging start to spring missions conference. 

Day 9

1) Early Morning Jog with Mimi on the Beach

2) Good truth input today through friends and books and prayer. 

3) Grace for todays installment in what has been a rather difficult but beneficial series of correspondence this week. Peace with the results. 

Day 8

1) A gorgeous morning!!

2) Good therapy session today: lots of thinking but helped me to see another pattern in my emotional response to relationships in general that was very insightful . Yay for clarity!!

3) Lovely full body massage with my dear friend Annalisa who is in massage therapy training school. Such a precious time with that incredible woman every week...such an example to me spiritually and intellectually. Annnnd its really helping the tension built up in my shoulders, neck and back from years of violin. Such a beautiful thing. 

4) Apologies for the redundancy of beach pictures here but I had another lovely walk on the beach today. Some of the most fun exercise ever and so beautiful!! So many memories on that stretch of sand. And I'm about to make more! Getting up at 4:45 tomorrow morning to drive out there and take an early morning run/walk with a friend as the sun rises. Oh yeah!!! :)

(The sand served as effective initiation rites for the summer toe ring. It proved itself enduring :) 

Day 7...has it been a week already?

1) Job leads for the summer

2) A successful shopping trip!! Modest + good prices + fits + beautiful = never happens

3) Quick visit to the local feed and seed store to visit a batch of ducklings = happiness!! :)

Day 6

1) Another day of beautiful weather that is rushing in all the signs of spring

(I don't know why I like this picture. It's blurry. But somehow it still seems magical...)

2) The faithfulness of God shown to me even on days like today where my stubborn clutches on life turns to a white knuckle grip as the possibility of change threatens to further rearrange my desires. 

3) Great music. Definitely part of what got me through today. I guess because it's something that I know is a gift from God to me that doesn't depend on where I end up or whether I am with the ones I love or in  what pursuit I am engaged. I'm finding that often,  God given pleasure is one of the most effective torches to melt the paralysis of fearful unbelief. 

Day 5

1) A windows-down afternoon drive a few minutes and a couple left turns down the road from home

2) Getting to read outside under this sky, making freckles and finding this quote from C.S. Lewis. 

3) Stepping back on the bike tonight as the first step to getting back into an exercise routine. For one night holding a fragile but balanced focus towards fitness. Can only take one step at a time. Thankful to be able to lay aside perfectionism about motivation for getting in shape long enough to get out there and Just Do It!!

Day 4

1) For time spent digesting the truth in these verses: (2 Corinthians 4:16-18)

(Photo: A.P.) 

(Photo: Public Domain)

2) A helpful conversation with my Mom this afternoon, sharing and encouraging each 

other in ways that only family can during this time. 

3) An encouraging conversation with a friend that left me laughing on a night where 

I felt like crying. So thankful for Dear friends.

4) For small moments that took my breath away today - just for a second: like driving down 

Murphey's Mill Road today, a little winding back stretch of road barely wide enough for two cars. I didn't have my camera - only my phone - so this isn't a very good picture. But it captures just one of the small moments that sank deep into my heart to make it happy.

Day 3

Courage. What does courage mean? Sometimes it means doing the next thing to stay afloat. Other times it means taking on things that could be set aside for another day or avoided all together by compromise. And sometimes courage means not rushing ahead but waiting patiently in faith, confident in the One who presides over the past, the present and every detail of the future. I love to remember the words King Tirian spoke to Jill during the darkest moments of the final chapters of C.S. Lewis' The Last Battle.  "Courage child, we are all between the paws of the true Aslan." As simple as they are, these are words I have copied out, read and re-read, cried over and clung to. Today I turned to the truth in them again.

I could record many many beautiful moments from today's perfect weather, memorable food and pleasantly quiet morning. But the most significant things I find myself grateful for are moments of undeserved courage found in my ever gracious God.

1) Courage to write a firm and difficult letter I didn't want to write

2) Courage to do battle with treasured things and treasured hopes that mean more to me than Christ. 

3) Courage to come back to truth when I feel like running away from the ache of the struggle. 

Day 2

1) Getting hand written letters from friends who normally email instead. 

2) Sharing Nilla Wafers mid afternoon with my little man (from his Ltd. stash too!)

3) Taking barefoot walks through patches of ankle deep clover - and not getting stung by any bees :) 

And...finishing the day reading Gilead by Marilynne Robinson and writing letters. 

Not an easy day in many respects but such a good day!!

Day 1

1) An encouraging visit today with an old family friend, Joel Weinberger, who was here in Virginia today visiting a law school. Wishing him all the best in his decision process!!

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2) A beautiful afternoon walk on Virginia Beach!!

3) An amazing home cooked dinner that culminated with this...

Purpose

The idea for this blog came the way most ideas pop into my conscious consideration:
1) Working on something important
2) Brain not entirely engaged with said activity because
3) Brain is busy simultaneously:
    - Thinking about how to solve a problem
    - Coming up with ideas for photography
    - Ruminating on the vast store of C. S. Lewis quotes fluttering around in my mind
    - Indulging my insatiable interest in technology and the nearly limitless possibilities it offers
4) Brain re-converges with previously mentioned primary important activity.
5) Idea explodes as a possible solution to nagging problem.
6) Primary activity ceases and physical activity increases as perceptual inklings take actual shape...

I'm starting this new blog as a way to combine an existing ritual (which has not enjoyed the regularity it was intended to experience) with my inevitable propensity to gravitate towards editing pictures and musing about life as the day comes to a close. I want to use that tendency as a way to channel my thinking towards beauty, towards truth, and ultimately toward God through those means. So what will this blog look like? An entry every day chronicling three (or more) things that I am grateful for: things that were beautiful...ways that I saw God. Sometimes I will post pictures I've taken. Sometimes I will post pictures I found that struck a chord and made my heart happy.  But it is my goal that every day I will choose to train my eyes towards Christ through beauty in this way. So feel free to join me in this journey...it's mostly for my heart. But it's also for anyone else who longs to drink in the things which God has placed in our lives to enjoy, and who desires, with me, to find the courage to take it to heart with the joyful gusto it deserves.

Are you ready? Let's Roll...