“I am a hunter of beauty and I move slow and I keep the eyes wide, every fiber of every muscle sensing all wonder and this is the thrill of the hunt and I could be an expert on the life full, the beauty meat that lurks in every moment. . . . I hunger to taste life” (Ann Voskamp).
“All fear is but the notion that God’s love ends” (Ann Voskamp).
“‘Wherever you are, be all there.’ I have lived the runner, panting ahead in worry, pounding back in regrets, terrified to live in the present, because here-time asks me to do the hardest of all: just open wide and receive” (Ann Voskamp, One Thousand Gifts: A Dare to Live Fully Right Where You Are).
I’m sharing a little secret just between you and me and the internet. When I can’t think of anything else to write about, I’ll be going back to this well. My well of thanksgiving. It’s deep, so deep I can’t see the end of it and it never ever runs dry, no matter what the season or the weather. I can choose to ignore it or to replenish myself by going to it time and time again and drawing from the life-nourishing waters of gratitude and joy and (best of all) eucharisteo. So, I’m lowering my bucket slowly and starting at #1,071.
1,071) Whenever I get to hear my friend Parker Bradley teach and impart his gift of biblical wisdom.
1,072) That while the devil knows my name but calls me by my sin, God knows my sin yet calls me by name (stolen from Pinterest).
1,073) Having new friends and new memories from this week’s VBS at Set Free.
1,074) My iPhone now has 850 songs on it and enough variety to drive a left-brained person batty.
1,075) Experiencing life through all five senses of sight, sound, touch, taste, and smell.
1,076) Warm fleece blankets on a cold winter’s day.
1,077) The way my sister’s dog Ellie practically dances on her hind legs whenever she sees me.
1,078) Having said dog asleep in my lap as I write this list.
1,079) Being on level 47 in Candy Crush Saga.
1,080) Having Thursday nights set aside as my weekly downtown Franklin nights.
1,081) Finally finding my “lost” book of Emily Dickinson poetry.
1,082) The biopic on the life of St. Francis of Assisi called “Brother Sun, Sister Moon.”
1,083) Being able to visit my 88-year old grandmother in her assisted living apartment.
1,084) Appreciating a really expensive car like a Lamborghini but not wanting or feeling the need to own one.
1,085) That Christ is strongest when I’m at my weakest.
1,086) All 1,078 blogs that I’ve written in just over 3 years of blogging.
1,087) This, the 1,079th blog.
1,088) Not being defined by a job (or lack of one).
1,089) How my sister’s dog and my cat get along so well.
1,090) That new haircut feeling.
1,091) That the place where I get my haircut is right next door to a Starbucks.
1,092) Playing a game of Apples to Apples where the players don’t take it so literally and seriously.
1,093) Leftover pizza.
1,094) Another slow and calm Sunday afternoon.
1,095) Reading books like Foxes’ Book of Martyrs and seeing so many example of what people endured for and because of the love of Jesus.
1,096) Good fired-up black gospel preachin’!
1,097) Almost 2,000 years of believers leaving a legacy of love for me to follow.
1,098) Fortune cookies at Chinese restaurants.
1,099) Being able to get the weather forecast on my iPhone.
1,100) The New American Bible translation.
1,101) Adam and Ashley leading worship at the 11:11 service.
1,102) My well-disguised coffee concoctions with 20 percent coffee and the rest made up of creamer and sugar.
1,103) Trapper Keepers.
1,104) That there’s nothing and no person and no situation God can’t use for His glory and my good.
1,105) Being alive today.
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