Another Thanksgiving post

Guys. It's the end of November. How is that even possible?

Remember last year, how one of my biggest lessons was thankfulness no matter what happens, even for the littlest things? Well, I haven't been doing a very good job at that this year, but November has been a good reminder, because "thankful" lists have been popping up everywhere. It's a cliche thing to do, I know, but I've forgotten just how important it is, not just for one month of the year but every. single. day.

There's a book called One Thousand Gifts by Ann Voskamp. I haven't had a chance to read it yet*, but I do read her blog, and she has some really wonderful things to say. She is all about thankfulness, and she has an ongoing thing where she challenges people to find 1,000 things to be thankful for in a year. It's been an on-again, off-again thing for me, but I want to start keeping track again. It sounds so small, but it's amazing the difference it can make. I'm currently at 500, so I thought I'd start sharing a few with you guys**.

***

501. A free weekend to go hiking at Star Mountain with Mike. It's only been forever.

502. Half-price coffee (or cider!) at Inman St. before classes.

503. Accountability and reminders to make God my very first priority. So vital, yet so easy to lose.

504. A text of appreciation from my boss. (It's a small gesture, but a rare one, so it meant a lot!)

505. Conversations with random people at work.

506. Learning what it means to help someone without words.

507. Little kids. They make my life better. (Josiah, a 6-year-old, after yawning: "I am NOT tired. I was just clearing my breath. I never get tired.")

508. Sharpie pens. They are THE BEST for doodling during class. And at work. And at home. And anywhere, ever.

509. Cardigans, scarves, and boots. Fall clothes are my absolute favorite.

510. Mike spending Thanksgiving with my family.

511. Survivor nights with the best friends.

512. Soup. (Colder weather requires warmer food.)

513. Giving class presentations that are actually interesting to me.

514. The stage of life I'm in right now.

***

(I know. This is kind of a November/Thanksgiving-esque cop-out, oh-crap-I-haven't-blogged-in-forever kind of post. Except I really do mean it in the sincerest way possible. Really!)

Next up: CHRISTMAS. (I'm only slightly reallyreallysupercrazy excited. Just a little.) I have lots of post ideas, but probably zero time to actually write them. Still--I'm optimistic, so until then, I hope you all have a wonderful Thanksgiving!

*There's a Christmas gift idea, if you needed one. Because I know you're all totally going to buy me gifts, right?

**Ideally on a more regular basis instead of just Thanksgiving...

Procrastination (n): This post right here

Photo Credit: Unknown

Listening to: "Element" by Matthew Mayfield
This song is seriously beautiful. I love it. I also love Matthew Mayfield. Get his Now You're Free album--"Element" included--for free on NoiseTrade (of course--seriously, that site is the best)! Good stuff, all of it.

Hey, friends. Seeing that I have a 7-page research paper to write (I currently have a page and a half), two smaller papers, and 50 pages of Frankenstein to read (I've read about 5), all by tomorrow, that obviously means it's time for me to procrastinate even more by writing a blog post. Some things never change.*

Digging Deep, cont.
Remember how I was talking about digging deep and such in my last post? Well, last Sunday after I wrote it, guess what Scripture the sermon was based around? Oh, Psalm 139 (which I ended the post with). And guess what his one comment on the last two verses (the ones I used) was? Oh, just that "search me" in the original Hebrew essentially means to dig deep. Ha! I love it.

Compassion
I started sponsoring a kid through Compassion International last week! His name is Prosenjit and he's 11 and from India. I'm super excited. It's something that I've wanted to do since I was like, 12, but was always afraid to commit to a monthly payment. Ever since the summer, though, I've kinda felt like it's something that God wanted me to do, but still, it took me a couple of months to finally decide that it's a faith thing: if He wants me to do it, He'll provide the money somehow. Besides, I have so much. Most of the world lives on less than a dollar a day. The average income for the area where Prosenjit lives? $15 a month. That's like 50 cents a day. I spend seven times that much--an entire week's worth of pay for them--multiple times a week on a cup of COFFEE. They'd have to save absolutely everything for nearly 4 months just to pay for a tank of gas. How's that for some perspective?

Not only that, but everything that Compassion stands for is exactly what I want to do with my life. For me, this is like taking the first step in actually fulfilling that. I like that they're all about changing lives at the individual level. I like that they recognize that the spiritual aspect is absolutely crucial, which is why they work through local churches. I just like what they do a lot. Their Holistic Child Development model makes perfect sense to me...hence the reason I'm planning to get my masters degree in just that! So even though I technically just started getting involved with them, what they stand for is something that I am really passionate about, so get ready: you're probably about to start hearing a lot more about it!

Thankful
Thankfulness is such a common theme for this time of year, but it's something that's been a recurring theme for me over the past couple of months, and not something I plan to change! I've been keeping a daily list of little things that I'm thankful for, and it's amazing how it has changed my perspective for the better! 

• The sound of rain
• The 11(!) little kids I got to spend my Thanksgiving with (including 3 sweet girls who are convinced I'm a superstar)**
• Good music
• Christmas lights at Inman
• Slowly understanding more & more about what God is up to...and even then, recognizing that I don't have a clue.

Things I Like

• Everything about this room:

  

  1. Photo clothesline, complete with vintage frame and painted knobs
  2. Bird pillow (anything with bird silhouettes automatically means I love it)
  3. Collage painting--I love, love, love the idea of decorating with my own artwork
  4. Painted lampshade (and I like that teal lampshade, too!)

• Tennessee print (love the lettering, love Tennessee):

  

  "Rocky Top, you'll always be home sweet home to me."

  
  
• This "Choose Joy" print. Birds & a reminder I need constantly--perfect:
  

  

  "Choose joy. Because everything is relative."

*Well, by the time I'm actually posting this, my paper has been completed. Only 7 hours of work. You know, no big deal... I just spent a lot of time procrastinating in between.
**Yes, 11 kids. My two cousins, my friend's two little girls, and 7 of her little cousins. If I ever have self-esteem issues, I just need to go hang out with them. I'm pretty sure Lizzie (6), Emma (4), & Mackenzie (8) are convinced that I'm the greatest thing that ever happened to planet Earth. I'm not really sure why, but hey, I'm not complaining!

It's the little things...

Listening to: LIGHTS' new album, Siberia
Definitely didn't realize that this was released yesterday. It's okay, but I think I prefer The Listening. Either way, thank you, Spotify, for letting me listen without having to spend money I don't have.

Photo Credit: Unknown

Today, I can't stop smiling.

Nothing particularly special has happened. It's been a pretty average Wednesday, really. This week, though, I've started seeing God everywhere, and I can't get over how amazing that is. It's never anything huge or spectacular; it's the little things. And somehow, those tend to be so much more special to me.

For my Human Sexuality class, I'm reading Sex God by Rob Bell. Generally speaking, I'm not a huge fan of his, but this book is actually really good...especially the fourth chapter. I usually don't highlight or underline my books, but this chapter is just too good and relevant not to. Interestingly enough, it's about lust, but as I'm figuring out (and if you read it, you'll understand), lust isn't always about sex. It can be about anything. Adam and Eve in the Garden?

"In most cases, there's nothing wrong with [the things we lust for] inherently.... The problem for Adam and Eve is what the fruit has come to represent. Rebellion against God." (Sex God, p. 72)

He talks about contentment and why that's so important--

"When we're not at peace, when we aren't content, when we aren't in a good place, our radar gets turned on. We're looking.... There's a hole, a space, a gap, and we're on the search. And we may not even realize it. When we are in the right place, the right space--content and at peace--we aren't on the search and our radar gets turned off." (Sex God, p. 73)

I could go way into what I've learned about peace and contentment and what that means, but I'll save that for another time. Basically though, it's finding my satisfaction in God alone. Wherever He has me in life is enough because He put me there. It's true joy.

"It's easy for our thoughts to be dominated by a craving.... It takes ahold of us. We are not free. Lust is slavery. If I want something to the point that I can't conceive of being content without it, then it owns me.... What started out as freedom can quickly become slavery.... Freedom is going without whatever we crave and being fine with it." (Sex God, p. 74-75)

He hits the nail on the head with that one. I can't even elaborate. Because when I read that, something clicked. I finally got it.

And that brings me to my main point.

Lately, I've been thinking a lot about being thankful. This is another thing Bell talks about in this chapter:

"Gratitude is so central to the life God made us for. Until we can center ourselves on what we do have, on what God has given us, on the life we do get to live, we'll constantly be looking for another life." (Sex God, p. 74)

Over the past several days, I feel like God has been trying to teach me that. Be content. Be at peace. Be thankful. Like I said before, I like the little things in life. At the same time, sometimes I forget to look for them, and with the little things, looking is essential. If I'm caught up in all of the problems with my life, I'm never going to notice everything around me that God has given me. I'll never notice the little things.

That being said, I'm trying to make a conscious effort to be thankful. When I'm bombarded with thoughts of everything that's going wrong, I want to be able to redirect my thoughts and think about the good things...even when there are no major things in my life that are going right. That's where the little things come in.

* * *

Perfect sunny days. The way the wind blows through the trees. Randomly waking up at 7am and looking out my window to see hints of color from the sunrise. Spontaneous trips to Chattanooga. Ridiculous chapel services that I don't get at all, but hey, at least they make me laugh:

"A lot of Lee students are literally frozen and unable to do what God has called them to do." Literally, huh? I guess that ice gets pretty inconvenient.

"We've gotta sing this song. We have to or I'm gonna blow up." Uhhh...yeah... Calm down.

Finally being able to smile at someone I've had trouble forgiving for 2 years. Opportunities (and extra time) to reconnect with friends I love but don't get to see as often as I'd like. When classes are relevant to my personal life. Having time to read for fun. Iced coffee between classes. Stopping to make small talk about soccer and the weather with a sweet elderly man I regularly see on campus. The everyday conversations with friends that aren't particularly memorable but make life happier.

Photo Credit: im-on-tambourine

"Always be joyful. Pray continually, and give thanks whatever happens. That is what God wants for you in Christ Jesus."

- 1 Thessalonians 5:16-18 (NCV)

Thanks, God.

I'm thankful for my little brother's random humor, my mom's listening ear, and my dad's corny jokes. I'm thankful for meteor showers and mountain air and laughing under the stars. For incredible friends who are there to keep me smiling, even through the hardest times, and who keep loving me, even after seeing the good and the bad in me. For hiking and Owl City and driving with the windows down. For acoustic guitars and waterfalls and Steak 'n Shake runs after midnight. I'm thankful for the fact that I can write cliché "thankful" blog posts and feel okay about it. :) I'm thankful for autumn leaves and how they blow around and crunch under my feet, for Christmas lights, the color green, and warm, fuzzy blankets. For songs that describe my life to me, rainy days, and giant bear hugs. For violins and good movies and long conversations about nothing in particular. I'm thankful for late-night adventures and old friends and meeting new people.

I'm thankful for the difficult times because I've learned to fully trust.

I'm thankful for Your amazing, amazing love.

I'm thankful for knowing that there's a point to everything that happens in my life, and that You are going to walk through all of it with me.

Thanks, God. :)