1,000 Gifts!!!!

I did it! I wrote my 1,000th gift in my Thanksgiving journal the day before the feast.  It took 1 1/2 years...

many weren't written but thought--and that's OK, because that's the point.  I've learned to breathe in the moment a little better, to enjoy a little more, to stir my heart to joy and its worth it.  We can choose joy--to gaze at the Son and the good things he's giving.  So here are a few:

#996 Bethan helping load the dishes
#997 Jim Gill music kids love
#998 an encouragement letter from Chad
#999 love feast at homegroup-beautiful, and i didn't have to do it
#1000 chat w/Lisette...finally!

I bought my Journal when I stepped off Turkish Air into the Istanbul airport.  In a shop with hanging lamps and Turkish delight, I found Jesus.  His face popped off the cover--it was crafted of many tiny pieces of brokeness... all put together Eastern style into a beautiful something.  I love that Constantinian mosaic.  In this world of brokeness, I can sigh and feel sick at the sin, so I need to remember his goodness.  Receiving the love in little ways breaks my despondency and restores my vision of Him--the Giver, the Lover, the Creator, the Mighty One who pursues me.