One Thousand Things

I went moon-chasing last week.  I made a dash around the neighbourhood, trying to capture the fascination of a

through my camera.  She sailed into the

, an ice-queen in a shroud of wispy cloud-cobwebs.  I inhaled my soul-food for the day.  

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“

 .”  My friend Bev presses a book into my hands, some months ago, in the summer… 

 by

http://www.aholyexperience.com   http://www.facebook.com/onethousandgifts

I

 .  I am  captivated.  So commences a dazzling new journey.  A journey to finding thankfulness in all things.  Finding

in the mundane, the difficult, the tragic.  Being thankful no matter what.  Intentional thankfulness.

My smartphone and

never stray from my side.  I have to catch the joy-moments coming out of nowhere in a series of joy-gifts I never saw as gifts before.   Like these …

.

Africa-shaped puddle

Supermarket shadow

Rosy dawn skies

Rainbows on floor tiles

• 

  Sun-splash on glum day

• 

  Puppy in wee-hour glow

Light ‘n’ shadow on kitchen wall

Microwave reflection

Tawny tree upside down

• 

  Sky-in-the-parking-lot

  There’s

The list goes on.  And on.  Pausing to discover the fragrance welling out of intentional thankfulness.  My lungs filled with joy. 

Ann Voskamp (just Ann with no e she calls herself) – The Farmer’s wife,  mother of six – writes (paraphrased) –

Thankfulness releases joy, which releases miracles …

It feels as if

have come to reside in my heart. 

– I began to change.  This is the

Thankful for the ugly, the lovely. The precious, the un-pretty.  The simple, the complex,  the

.  And all the in between, mundane stuff.  Intentional thankfulness that generates sublime joy.  Surely this is

, the daily

  

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 I went to the bookstore to buy a copy of One Thousand Gifts for my aunt. 

 “Funny,” the girl behind the counter said. “Lately, there’s been a rush of people coming for the book.  There aren’t too many left.”

All I replied, “That’s probably everyone I know coming to get one.  I haven’t been able to stop talking about it.”

 “I’ve heard it’s good,” she replied.

Bless you, my dear.  It is!

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 If my family think I’m bananas, they

, you know.  So I try to

, because I  choose to

that

and

 .  I

 .  It’s

!   I sigh over pretty puddles and go

.  And that’s why I went moon-chasing last week.

Is this 

?  Quite possible!  

   Something happened.  It’s unleashed the

They don’t seem all that far-fetched anymore.   I understand that

           

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Me?  (Smiling!)

                             

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, Reader.  May you find gifts in the ordinary things.

Here’s to

.