Satisfied

"This is the day that the Lord has made.  Let us rejoice and be glad in it."  Psalm 118:24

Yesterday I had just a wonderful day.  It was a day where I was trying to do the NOW.  I was able to do so many of the things that make my heart sing.  I took time to read.  I spent time sewing and was able to delight in seeing pieces come together in beauty.  When I looked up and saw that the sun was shining, I decided right away to go for a walk in the winter wonderland.  And I came home to an invitation for tea with a friend.  

I rediscovered a prayer that I had read awhile back.  I'm not sure where I found it.  But I am sure that I want to make it a part of me.  (It's from Eric and Julie Vaiksnoras - with a couple of minor modifications.)

Dear God:  Thank you for the challenges and wonderful things that happened today.  Help me to use my experiences today to build and strengthen my life with others and with you.  Help me to see your wonderful world and guide me through all my tomorrows.  Amen

These are some of the experiences and wonderful things from the last little while.  My list of gifts continues....

1590) impromptu walks and explorations
1591) Zentangles
1592) and delight at what I can create with Zentangles and a little inspiration
1593) helping MW get closer to finishing her quilt
1594) dinner with friends
1595) choral concert
1596) seeing community in action (at the choral concert)
1597) encouragement from others
1598) hugs from students at the end of the day
1599) coming into church - more hugs
1600) coming home to shoveled sidewalks
1601) twice
1602) progress on quilt for E

1603) a wonderful day of feeding my soul
1604) reading
1605) quilting
1606) a winter walk in the sunshine
1607) impromptu tea with a friend - making a great day better
1608) seeing students learn - going from confusion to understanding
1609) Devonian Gardens
1610) the warmth of the sun on my face
1611) being able to enjoy solitude
1612) "cooking" with friends
1613) and having healthy meals at the ready
1614) a garage
1615 - 1622) photographic reminders of beauty in creation

Pleasant surprises

I love how little things show up at times when they are needed.  How words are shared that speak to my soul.  Yesterday was one of those times again.  Not only was I blessed to be at church with my community, but I was given some words that speak to my soul.  Words that speak to my heart.  Words that speak to me.  

I don't know exactly where the words come from, but they are attributed to C.S. Lewis. 

"I think we delight to praise what we enjoy because the praise not merely expresses but completes the enjoyment; it is its appointed consummation."

I hadn't thought of it that way before.  But simply noticing and remarking on good things does just that.  It completes and deepens the enjoyment and the richness of the gift.

My list of gifts continues....

1573) encouragement through the words of others
1574) hugs from students
1575) candied ginger
1576) pleasantly surprised when things aren't as chaotic as I'd expected
1577) being blessed by being at church
1578) time with friends
1579) being able to help friends
1580) time with family
1581) watching students learn
1582) watching students learn new skills
1583) hearing how a gift was helpful the very day it was received
1584) exploring the city with friends
1585) exploring the city with family
1586) laughing and playing games with family
1587) the C-Train
1588) flexibility and generosity of others
1589) the sheer delight of sitting on a couch and being joined by children - one who leans on my shoulder and one who climbs on my lap - Aaaah, what a delightful feeling!

Now

It's the beginning of a new year.  2013.  Hard to really wrap my mind around the idea.  Not only that 2012 has flown by, but that 2013 is now the present.  This is not a new feeling really.  Just the specific numbers for the years have changed.  It's a feeling I have every year.  I know that New Year's Eve is supposed to feel monumentous.  (I guess the word is actually momentous.  I don't like that as much, but I have already learned something new in 2013 and I guess that's a good thing.)  But for me, the beginning of a new school year is more like New Year's to me.  The school year has been the cycle of my life for almost every year of my life.  Hard to break that connection to new beginnings.

Enough about that.

Happy 2013. May it be a year of blessings.  A year of laughter.  A year of memories and relationships with friends and family.

I've spent time over the last month mulling over what my word for 2013 would be.  One that I thought about was abundance.  And while it is true that I want to celebrate the abundance of good things God gives me (and I will continue to do so through my list of gifts), another word has continually crept into my mind.    It's come up in conversations.  It's come up in things I've been reading.  And it has swirled through my mind.  It's NOW.  I want to live in the gift of NOW.  Not the past, although memories are a great gift and can bring comfort and joy.  Not the future, although planning and hope are not at all bad things.  But the NOW.  Being in the moment and really being present in my life.  "This is the day the LORD has made; let us rejoice and be glad in it."    Psalm 118:24  

Over the course of this year, I want to become better at rejoicing and being glad in the day.  Better at taking advantage of the gifts of each day.  Realizing that that can mean quiet days and busy days.  It can mean so many different kinds of days.  Each one being a gift of its own with offerings of its own.

A few more gifts to add to the list:
1544) bringing in the New Year with family and friends
1545) 2 beautiful girls wanting to share some funny scenes from the movie they watched
1546) a peaceful day with a sister
1547) pizza
1548) falling asleep to the sound of quiet chatter in the room next door
1549) quiet contentment in the morning
1550) time to reflect on the new year dawning
1551) knowing that we don't go alone into the new year
1552) knowing that we don't go along into each new day
1553) celebrating an uncle's birthday with him
1554) new books to discover
1555 - 1570) time with family

1571) My dad - who took all these pictures - but isn't in any of them.

1572) gerbera daisies

  

Catching up

Catching up on some gifts.

And enjoying the chance to relive the special times in the past month.

1465) thought-provoking Christmas program at church - the meaning of Christ's gift for us as restoration from exile
1466) feeling of peace as I went about my day
1467) an iron that shuts off automatically (especially when I forget to turn it off!)
1468) encouraging parent-teacher conferences
1469) yummy mini-brownies
1470) the quiet hum of a classroom of students occupied by games they have created
1471) kind notes and gifts from students and their parents
1472) the delight of anticipation as I worked on cards to give students - cards with photos of their own artwork
1473) celebrating a birthday with a friend
1474) lunch with a friend
1475) relatives from far away arriving for a visit here - and a white Christmas
1476) safe travels on somewhat dicey roads
1477) a car I feel safe driving
1478) time to spend with family
1479) a peace-filled last day of school - with students enjoying each other
1480) students breaking into applause at the end of our Advent story - Bartholomew's Passage - and the climax of the birth of Christ
1481) the gift of words - in students' retelling of the delight of the Christmas story
1482) the gift of holidays - time off, time to refresh
1483) enjoying an afternoon with an aunt and uncle - working on a crossword puzzle, a mammoth crossword puzzle
1484) AND the gift of the Internet to find answers we had NO idea about
1485) time around the kitchen table reading teh paper together
1486) time around the kitchen table playing cards together
1487) time around the kitchen table playing word games together
1488) the ability to laugh at ourselves - together
1489) watching my Grandma play a game on Christmas Day

1490) family working together with ease and efficiency as we prepared for meals and cleaned up after dinner for 28
1491) the delight my cousin took in the quilt I made for her and for her husband for their wedding

1492) his delight too!

1493) being able to help lighten things, even a little, for my mom
1494) a niece's engagement
1495) the annual family book exchange
1496) opportunity to delight my uncle's wife by giving away my book from the exchange (since I'd read it already)
1497) opportunity to delight my cousin by giving her the "extra" book I bought for the exchange
1498) the positive reception for my contribution to the exchange - The Book of Useless Information
1499) watching my nephews playfully walk together

1500) my cousin's wedding and her joy!
1501) his too!
1502) the beautiful way they recognized and included her mom who had recently died.
1503) out to the movies with 15 family members!
1504) home for a different movie with many of the same family members
1505) working on a jigsaw puzzle with my sister-in-law and my niece's fiancé
1506) delighting my niece by finishing the baby quilt we sewed together in August

1507) catching up with family and friends via Christmas cards and letters
1508) enjoying being with siblings at dinner during Alena and Chris' wedding
1509) when all the nieces and nephews joined us around our table when theirs had to clear off the dance floor
1510) that they wanted to join us!
1511) sleeping "later"
1512) my dad making oatmeal for breakfast
1513) and fishing out the raisins for me
1514) the very generous Christmas gift from my Grandma
1515) the very generous Christmas gift from my parents
1516) the very generous Christmas gift from my nephews - making lasagne for all of us
1517) people telling me when I've dropped a glove
1518) hugs
1519) Toblerone chocolate
1520) the pleasant company of my cousin and her friend Alison on the return journey home
1521) the unique coour int he winter afternoon sky
1522) the bit of a rainbow in the winter afternoon sky
1523) good decision to stop in a less busy location
1524) dinner with my brother, sister-in-law, niece and niece's fiancé
1525) waming up under a fleece blanket
1526) working on a tedious task with family to make the time go by - and almost erase the tedium
1527) a friend trusting me with deep thoughts and stories
1528) praying for words to use in response to these stories - and being given the right words
1529) clean sheets!
1530) sunlight sparkling on the snow
1531) candied giner
1532) food in the freezer so I can feed company
1533) having company
1534) specifically - Maria,
1535) Arlen,
1536) and Elaine
1537) sunshine and blue skies
1538) school Christmas program
1539) phone calls from friends
1540) quiet mornings
1541) breakfast with my niece and her fiance which gives
1542) a time to connect and build relationships
1543) the feeling of satisfaction when dropping completed Christmas cards into the mailbox

Winter Wonderland

Words fail me.

Almost.

Thank you, God, for the beauty of Your winter wonderland.

Gifts number 1445 - 1464

The Meaning of Life

The title of this post sounds pretty philosophical, doesn't it?  It really simply refers to a movie I just watched.  Jeremy Fink and the Meaning of Life.  Silly me, I thought it was just going to be a light and fluffy movie to wile away a Saturday evening.  Yes, it had it's light moments.  But it also had some pretty thought-provoking and insightful comments.  So much so that I went on the Internet and googled quotes from the movie, discovering that they are originally quotes from the book by Wendy Mass.  Now I have a new author to investigate.  This is a movie I could watch again.  

"I made sure to pay attention to everything I was doing. To be fully in the moment. Because that's all life is, really, a string of moments that you knot together and carry with you. Hopefully most of those moments are wonderful, but of course they won't all be. The trick is to recognize an important one when it happens. Even if you share the moment with someone else, it is still yours. Your string is different from anyone else's. It is something no one can ever take away from you. It will protect you and guide you, because it IS you. What you hold here, in your hand, in this box, this is my string.

Until recently, I thought it was death that gave meaning to life--that having an endpoint is what spurred us on to embrace life while we had it. But I was wrong. It isn't death that gives meaning to life. Life gives meaning to life. The answer to the meaning of life is hidden right there inside the question.

What matters is holding tight to that string, and not letting anyone tell us our goals aren't big enough or our interests are silly. But the voices of others aren't the only ones we need to worry about. We tend to be our own worst critics. Ralph Waldo Emerson wrote: 'Most of the shadows in this life are caused by our standing in our own sunshine.' ... Wisdom is found in the least expected places. Always keep your eyes open. Don't block your own sunshine. Be filled with wonder.”

― Wendy Mass, Jeremy Fink and the Meaning of Life

Lots of nuggets here.  

Life gives meaning to life.  Pay attention.  Recognize an important moment when it happens.  

Here are some of the important moments that have happened to me.

1414) parent volunteers in the classroom

1415) the compassion children show for each other

1416) the passion children have for learning about God

1417) the hard questions children ask

1418) sewing with friends

1419) getting quilts back from the long-arm quilter and seeing them come to life

1420) finishing a quilt for my cousin

1421) hugs from children

1422) the opportunity to pray with a hurting mom

1423) celebrating my dad's 80th birthday

1424) finding the words to honour him

1425) hearing the words and love of other family members as they honour him

1426) seeing how loved and honoured he felt

1427) finishing report cards

1428) a car I trust

1429) watching the moon rise

1430) frost on trees

1431) white on white - trees against a white sky 

1432) eyes to see the beauty around me

1433) the lift to my heart at the wonders around me

1434) finding a missing CD!

1435) feeling "organized" (well - sort of) after some tidying

1436) enjoying a favourite Advent story with children

1437) games night at church

1438) connecting with former students who are now adults

1439) finding something to wear to my cousin's wedding

1440) an idea for a way to gift my students

1441) dinners out with friends

1442) watching bits of "the extravaganza"

1443) creativity of children

1444) the learning assistant in my classroom - her support and wisdom