Month: July 2016

Today’s word  is ability.

As I thought on what ability I’m grateful for it is my sense of humor.

I love a good joke, even the simple corny ones. The ones that some might just give an eye roll I will have a smile on my face. Humor to me is like my buffer in the bumper cars of life. Life might feel at times to just keep hitting you and some times not getting anyplace is hard with all those hits but as in bumper cars we can get upset or see the humor and keep going.

I enjoy seeing the humor in life. From animals to children and all that’s in beteewn, life is so full of comic relief. So manythe things that can or do happen in just a day I find myself laughing. It has helped me in the hardest of times.

Life has the silver lining, its humor.  I am so glad for that lining that buffer to life what a comfort. In good or bad it’s always there and I’m so grateful for it.

 

 

Today’s word is texture.

The texture I’m grateful for is dirt. This soil, mud or dust is something I am constantly fighting to keep out of my house but somehow outside it takes on such beauty. I love to put my hands in it to plant things. To just feel the coolness on my skin as I dig and work with my hands in dirt my soul is soothed.

When mud is applied to skin or you soak in it. The benefits are amazing, from helping sore muscles to making your skin soft and emproving circulation. The list can go on in fact so many benefits that people are willing to pay a lot to have this therapy.

I am thankful that something so simple even the smallest of animals benefits from dirt.

 

 

Today is day eleven on my word a day journey of gratitude. The word is holiday.

The holiday I’m grateful for today is Thanksgiving.

This national holiday of giving thanks goes back to the Puritans fleeing persecution and not only surviving in a new world but actually thriving. Learning from people so much different than themselves they chose to learn not to fight! To be teachable not stuborn. To understand that arrogance would only led them to starvation. They didn’t think the natives owed them  anything instead chose to work hard and not wimp out crying that their lives as they new it were different.

Maybe what’s wrong with us today is we are so busy crying over what we don’t have and thinking we deserve everything that we lost our kindness and understanding.

Keeping in mind everyone always has something to offer each other if we listen. To truly listen is not to hear so we know how to respond but to really hear the other person.

I am grateful for this holiday it reminds me to be thankful but also so much more if you think on it.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Today’s word is taste.

As I woke up and was thinking  of the word taste and what one I’m grateful for nothing came to me at first. Instead I was going over all sorts of taste I enjoy. With the thought of I need to get moving with my devotions, prayer/meditaton and yoga routine, this is one word that I’d come back to it.

After completing my quiet time  I open my door walk down the hall to the kitchen to be greeted by the sweet smell of coffee.

I poured my coffee added my creamer then sat down with my oldest grandson to drink my coffee and watch one of his favorite shows.

As I took my first drink I knew oooh yes I am so very grateful for the taste of coffee!!

Coffee yes! Why I didn’t think of this earlier I don’t know. All the different beans bring such a rainbow of flavors to enjoy.

What place am I grateful for?

So many places but the one I’m grateful for today is Phoenix.

I grew up in Phoenix Arizona so this place is special to me. I love this city  with all the different things to do, how it hums along with all the activities and people.

Phoenix offers the fine arts and museums as well as food from all sorts of cultures around every corner. Or the great out doors can be enjoyed with a wonderful hike. There so many great mountains in and around this city.

One more thing this city has the sweet smell of orange trees and cactus blossoms greeting you as you walk out of your home into the warm sunshine that smiles down on you in the winter months when so many are shoveling snow. Even all the birds fly here so there sweet songs to keep you feeling alive even in the middle of January. The sound of the desert dove reminds you that this desert is anything but humdrum.

The next word for me is memory.

I took a rest from writing yesterday because it was Sunday so I’m writing on it today. I thought on my my word as I woke up and the memory is that of when I was such a little girl.

I think of me riding on my green bike down a hill. As a girl I was adventures and full of energy. I had a green bike that to me was the symbol of true adventure and freedom but not only did I have this awesome bike but a great hill by my home. So of course I had to ride up and down it.

The first time I went up the hill and sat on top of it I felt like I was sitting on top of the word and the excitement of knowing I could speed all the way down was just to much for me to sit long. Down I went legs off the pedals because I was going so fast the wind blowing my hair and feeling like I was flying.

I think of this memory and know that it is a wonderful memory but also a symbol on life.

We can let go and enjoy the beauty of the moment, the moment can be looked at as scary or the best adventure.

For day six my word is nature.

Not made by human hands, I love every part the power that can bring us humans to our knees,what strength! Yet such gentleness that can bring even the hardest of hearts to tears with its beauty.

My part of nature that I am grateful for today is a sunset.

I will need to wait until tonight to be delighted with this priceless work of art but that’s almost the best part. I get to be surprised. It’s like Christmas every evening,the disappearing of the gigantic ball of fire gives way to colors and shapes that we never see again. All this and more will be on display for each us to be in awe of if we just stop but for a minute and take it in.

Today is not only Friday but day five and what a great way to rap up the work week than with today’s word…witch is sound.

As I was waking up and am thinking of gratitude I was enjoying the birds sing their dawn chorus and as lonely of a sound that is and I truly enjoy it every morning the sound I am most grateful for is the sound of silence.

Not to sound like my grandmother but silence is golden and no I’m not going to quote  Simon and Garfunkel but the sound of silence is comforting to me.

After a busy day or first thing in the morning before the birds are up, silence can be found. You can find it as you stroll along in the forest under the light of a full moon. It is even found in the busy city late at night as you walk the  sidewalks in the peacefulness of the first new snow.

What peace silence is to me and how I embrace it. Some might fear it but too me it is my closest friend.

 

 

Day four on my gratitude journey is food.

As I woke up today I thought what food am I grateful for. It came to me quick it’s quite simple, it has to be a donut!! I really enjoy all sorts of food and being a vegetarian I am always on the look out for good, healthy, spicy and with in reason sweet food.

I don’t have them often and it has been years since I made them with my children but these fried dough of confectionery goodness can’t be beat!

I know just a little of the interesting history on these lovely yummiest of fried baked goodness. It goes back to the Romans and Greeks but we can thank the Dutch sailor’s mom that made them for her son’s voyage for becoming the favorite version of the donut.

Oh and I just happen to share the month of June (my birthday month)with national donut day  June 3rd, that’s no coincidence.