14,000 Things To Be Happy About

My friend Jazlyn once introduced me to this fabulous and probably frivilous book called "14,000 Things To Be Happy About". It was a very dense book that listed endlessly all the little things in the day that could possibly make one smile...I often give this book as gifts to people. I use to mark on one page a day all the things listed there that I recognized as making me happy. And today, I need to be reminded, listed below is a excerpt from the book...

*I've edited in the parenthesis a thought or memory to add*


the pleasure of remembering great and beautiful things that we cannot lose and the pleasure of sharing them with others
the metronome of rain ( For Cheryl Sinz)
a broad stand-up desk
sipping a margarita and listening to Mozart ( For Kelsie)
graspable directions
a sanctuary from everyday life (Mike and Mary Gammill)
a video you watch together
the guy on the ski jump wiping out during the opening credits of ABC's Wide World of Sports
mild rock concerts
rich and ruddy complexions
grilled nectarines (never had them, they sound nice)
the education and culture to appreciate a quiet place
a little dirt road zigzagging off in search of adventure (1/2 hour outside of Casper in the middle of the night)
Pablo Picasso
trying out the new sled
shower karaoke
licking a stamp (No, really, I really love this taste, I think it comes from being a postman's daughter)
artwork on the walls
pound cake
singing in the back seat
animals I've never seen before (Chinchilla)
writing poetry that no one will see ( For Noah, For Me, For the Youth Girls)
giving a party
the countdown to Christmas
doing something unusual in order to get someone's attention (Once some one fell with a huge tray of plastic glasses full of water. I was a junior higher and it was a leader who recognized the need to snap me out of my strange awkward stupor)
generosity (For whoever paid for me to make it to New York my senior year)
a treehouse fort, hideout, tent, shed, or playhouse
looking through a kaleidoscope


See. Don't you feel better. I do.:0)'

Unoffendable.

Romans 12:18: If possible, so far as it depends on you, be at peace with all men....


When did I become so offendable...no, I don't mean offensive..I mean, offendable. When did I start to taking impervious trite things as personal attacks. When did I give up on being unoffendable.

A man who use to mentor me use to alway talk about being unoffendable and the value of that. I find myself losing at that battle.
Customer Service. I use to love the customer. I find it hard these days to expect the best of the customer. To believe that they are not out to offend me personally, I find it hard to seek their personal best instead of my own personal protection....

I don't know what is wrong these days. I don't know, maybe it is the almost 6 years at my job. I love my job. I love people...why then has it become a chore to remind myself that every day. That I love people and want what is best for them? When did this occur?

Being Unoffendable. Being Teachable. These two qualities were ones that Fred often spoke of when he would speak with Cindy and I. Where have these traits gotten shoved to? How quickly my guard goes up these days.

I need to be broken. I need to be healed and redirected and corrected. Lord, I know that when I ask you to do these things...you will do them and they will look much like it has lately, only you will have to be the power in me to over come.

It has just felt like such an epic fail at something I use to love so much.

So Proud

Today was an interesting time at Church. It seems that the Lord is moving ministry piece in a variety of realms. As my sister and her husband are "transitioned" out of their formal/occupational role at their church and my best friend back in Billings is "transitioned" as well, my heart is awakened to praying more intensely. It is difficult to watch these "transitions" occur. Having been in formal/occupational ministry for 3 years, and having chosen to step out of that piece, it hurts my heart to remember the backlash that occurs. The doubts and questions and internal struggles that crop up.

So proud, so very proud of these people, Jason, Sara, and Cindy...

I remember a time a couple years ago that my heart and the hearts of others I knew were being moved to pray more intensely for the community of believers we were among. We never knew why at that period of time our hearts were being drawn to pray thus, and even now I don't know what the movement means, but I am pleased that I can pray to a God who knows where these pieces lay...

Asking that the Lord moves with quickness and clarity, that His peace will rest on these ones I love so dearly. Now the question is where does my piece lay in these issues...

May the love of the Lord wash over you today as you seek Him. May you know Him better because of the things that you see and experience today.

in Christ's Precious Name...