The First Ten of One Thousand

I listened to a life-changing message from Bill Johnson last week called, The Power of a Seed.

The challenge was to look at the little bit and see the more, to be thankful for the small portion I have been given and bless it--break it free from natural restraint into the kingdom realm, where multiplication is normal. 

Jesus did this with a little boy's lunch--the loaves and the fishes--and fed thousands, with baskets left over.  On Thursday, I chose to begin doing it here with my words, and the friends who read them.  If you are reading now, I bless you to see and be all that God intended when He first spoke you into existence.

I also read last week how gratitude is key to living a grace-full life.  Ann Voskamp's list of The Thousand Gifts inspired me to begin a gratitude journal, a celebration in paper and ink of the beauty of life and the graces of God, as seen and experienced by me--a woman learning to live broken and barefoot in a world where God's grace surrounds me.

Beginning today, and every Monday I will join with other barefoot worshipers--The Gratitude Community --in sharing the many graces I have discovered, the little bit and the more of all I have to wonder at and give thanks for.  

So here goes...

 The First Ten of One Thousand:

♥ Waking up with Jesus on my mind ♥ A hot cup of Orange Pecoe with honey, in a Tim Horton's mug ♥ Hearing cereal hit the bowl as she gets ready to drive to class ♥ 26 1/2 years with the man I love, and the home-made soup he likes to make on the weekends ♥ Watching with pride as she congratulates her best friend for being crowned Home-Coming Queen ♥ The love of one who drives two hours each way to give a bouquet of pretty pink, tiger-striped roses ♥ Having friends and family gather in our back-yard for a photo-op before the dance ♥ Four disappointed teenagers falling asleep in the living room after watching the Steelers' game ♥ The maturity I see in one who is able to hang out with her sisters and actually have a good time ♥

Would you like to share some of the things that make your life grace-full?

Photo Credit: flickr - D Ainslee