a gift dull, a gift shimmering, a gift cleaned

#167  the dull pencil lead… the kids are wearing down from school work

#168  our eyes shimmered when dad got home from work as said, “Let’s go out to eat tonight!”

#169  the bathrooms are cleaned!

2 gifts of music, 2 sweet gifts

 

#163  son playing trumpet

#164  a joyful noise to the Lord…6th grade orchestra performed…having only played instrument for 5 months

#165  sweet time with grandparents

#166  sweet treat…ice cream with sprinkles!

2 ugly-beautiful gifts

…that which is ugly transfigured into beautiful…

#161  metamorphosis …when an ugly worm or caterpillar is confined to a tomb, which it spins for itself. Then when it appears to be lifeless and formless, out immerges a beautiful and radiant butterfly with wings to soar.

2 Corinthians 5:17 “Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new.”  

I too was a worm and there was nothing good in me.   But one night a metamorphosis occurred in my life and when the process was completed, I emerged no longer a worm … the worm died but a New Creature in Christ Jesus!   I have not yet fully developed into all I will be…I am still on my journey… but I thank God I am not what I used to be!!!

 

#162   a cross

joys at the beach Feb. 24-26

#153  morning walk on the beach with friends

#154  ocean wave mist

#155  cool, silkiness of sand between toes

#156  sun shines so bright on water it’s blinding

#157  girlfriends through Christ 

#158 laughing so hard it makes your sides hurt

#159  sharing childhood memories 

#160  holy seashore experiences

gifts before 11a.m.

#150  large chorus of birds singing on warm spring-like morning

#151  on road trip with girlfriends!

#152  laughter, laughter, laughter…that went on the rest of the day and night

a gift of tin, of glass, of wood

 

#147  listening to rain on a tin roof

#148  glass pitcher holding water beside the glass vase with spring daffodils

“Drink this water, and your thirst is quenched only for a moment.  You must return to this well again and again.  I offer water that will become a wellspring within you that gives life throughout eternity.  You will never be thirsty again.” ~ Jesus  John 4:13

#149  the gift of all the woodworking my father and father-in-law have handcrafted.

3 gifts that changed today

#145  daughter was sick in the morning but felt better as the day went on.

#146  my new respect for people who can sew…because it was quite a challenge for my daughter and me today sewing a puppet for a project!

#147   words about Lent…

“Lent. It’s the preparing the heart for Easter. Like going with Jesus into the wilderness for forty days, that we might come face to ugly face with our enemy. Our sacrificing that we might become more like Christ in His sacrifice.”

“Lent isn’t about forfeiting as much as it’s about formation.”

~ Ann Voskamp

5 gifts white

#140   walk in the snow

#141    making snowman with my kids

 

#142  received a white envelop with keys in it to the beach house a friend is loaning…our conversation was also a special gift

#143  constant matchless white socks

#144  "Sin had left a crimson stain, He washed it white as snow"  from "Jesus Paid It All" by Kristian Stanfill

a gift at breakfast, lunch, dinner

#137  looking at snow glisten while eating breakfast

#138  husband came home for lunch…

#139  and husband grills dinner (and 8 hours earlier we were playing in the snow!)

gifts from today

#131  stringly, stretch-arms-wide grilled cheese sandwiches on a cold winter day

#132  safe drive home on icy road

#133  big snowflakes for the first time this winter

#134  listening to the little ice pellets plinking on the porch

#135  singing one of my favorite songs at worship “The Revolution Song”

#136  Ruckus family game night

3 gifts on paper

#128  the first words I read on this day… ones underlined in my bible with a big “P” beside them.  “P” = promise…there are several “P”s marked in it.

“Yet I am always with you; you hold me by my right hand.

You  guide me with your counsel, and afterwards,

You will take me into Glory.

Whom have I in heaven but You?

And earth has nothing I desire besides You.

My flesh and my heart may fail,

but God is the strength of my heart

and my portion forever.”

Psalm 73:23-26

#129   “Remembering is an act of thanksgiving, a way of thanksgiving, this turn of the heart over time’s shoulder to see all the long way His arms have carried.  ‘Gratitude is the memory of the heart,’ writes Jean Baptiste Massieu, but gratitude is not only the memories of our heart; gratitude is a memory of God’s heart and to thank is to remember God. “  -  Ann Voskamp  One Thousand Gifts

#130   Seeing at sunrise through our window this morning the paper stuck on the refrigerator with the kids memory verse of Romans 12:10  “Love each other deeply.  Honor others more than yourself.”

3 gifts found in giving

#125  making biscuits for breakfast for teachers at school

#126  the joy of opening our home to our life group each week, our kids’ friends… anyone who want to come!

“As for me and my household, we will serve the Lord.” 

Joshua 24:15 

#127  having our out of town family visit for the weekend…good times!

two gifts of shadow

#123  the shadows of the 8 children in our home who were reading the bible together, talking about the storms in their lives together, praying together…being brothers and sisters through Christ together.

#124  “Have mercy on me, O God, have mercy on me,

for in you my soul takes refuge. 

I will take refuge in the shadow of your wings.

Psalm 57:1

a gift in finding something, in making something

#119  old photos in my grandmother’s drawer

 

#120  finding a spiritual gift…the love of listening…especially older adults and their life stories

#121  my love of making art

#122  making life and faithbooks for older adults