“The true Love Dare. To move into His presence and listen to His love unending and know the grace uncontainable. This is the vault of the miracles. The only thing that can change us, the world, is this- all His love” (Ann Voskamp, One Thousand Gifts: A Dare to Live Fully Right Where You Are).
“Grace is alive, living waters. If I dam up the grace, hold the blessings tight, joy within dies… waters that have no life” (Ann Voskamp, One Thousand Gifts: A Dare to Live Fully Right Where You Are).
“The wrinkled man in the wheelchair with the legs wrapped, the girl with her face punctured deep with the teeth marks of a dog, the mess of the world, and I see – this, all this, is what the French call d’un beau affreux, what the Germans call hubsch-hasslich – the ugly-beautiful. That which is perceived as ugly transfigures into beautiful. What the post-impressionist painter Paul Gauguin expressed as ‘Le laid peut etre beau’ – The ugly can be beautiful. The dark can give birth to life; suffering can deliver grace” (Ann Voskamp, One Thousand Gifts: A Dare to Live Fully Right Where You Are).
I suppose that any normal or sane person would have given up this series of blogs by now. I mean after all, I’ve achieved what I set out to do in naming one thousand gifts, or blessings, or things I’m thankful for and love. But I have never been a normal person. And as for insanity? I don’t suffer from it at all. I’ve enjoyed every minute of it. Starting at #1,106.
1,106) Hitting 30,000 views on my blog that I started on a lark and never really imagined anyone who wasn’t related to me would find even remotely interesting.
1,107) Marathons of Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers movies on TCM.
1,108) The new car smell.
1,109) People who don’t give up on their dreams even when everything in them and around them tells them to.
1,110) The God who is bigger than the universe knowing when one tiny sparrow falls.
1,111) The amazing talent of Buddy Holly that cut too short by his untimely death.
1,112) Sitting inside of a brand new Camero convertible that I will probably never be able to afford.
1,113) Free music downloads.
1,114) Knowing that all the people I truly care about woke up this morning.
1,115) Rooms lit solely by candlelight.
1,116) Whenever Aslan breathes on someone and their fears melt away.
1,117) “True Companion” by Marc Cohn, which will be in my wedding whenever I find a future Mrs.
1,118) A well-placed pun.
1,119) Rain beading on the leaves of a tree after rain.
1,120) Just about anything Art Deco.
1,121) That the religious leaders and the Romans and death and hell couldn’t keep Jesus down, because “That’s my King!”
1,122) Reading a good book at night just before I fall asleep.
1,123) Being signed by my Creator and knowing that means I am priceless.
1,124) People who love animals.
1,125) Not having to listen to or hear about politics of any sort.
1,126) Common sense (even though it isn’t all that common these days).
1,127) The ways God has of keeping me humble.
1,128) That at this very moment someone could be saying an eternal “Yes” to Jesus.
1,129) The vision in Revelation of every tongue and every tribe being represented before the throne of God in heaven.
1,130) Seeing a well-made movie adaptation of a good book, such as The Hunger Games.
1,131) The look of a newly-mowed lawn.
1,132) Sharing my favorite books with other people.
1,133) Having Charity as the person who cuts my hair.
1,134) Big Momma’s Pancake Breakfast at Cracker Barrel.
1,135) Zero candy bars (even though they’re not easy to find anymore).
1,136) Natural health remedies.
1,137) Getting the scoop about a movie on Rotten Tomatoes.
1,138) Not taking life for granted anymore.
1,139) That God never takes me for granted ever.
1,140) That I’ll be sleeping in about 20-30 minutes from now.
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