Club Awesome for Friday June 4, 2010

Club Awesome for Friday June 4, 2010

The purpose of this weekly blog entry is really a selfish one. I find that if I am not held accountable for gratitude on a daily basis, I let it slip and tend to think of the things I do not have rather than my blessings. So maybe these lists don’t do as much for you as they do for me. However, I hope they inspire you to think creatively about your life and what you are grateful for today.

1. My Dad is having a birthday this weekend. I am so glad that he is here, on this planet with us. Our relationship grows closer and closer every year. Through him, with him, from him, I learn so much. He is the reason I am a biologist!

2. I am actually feeling neutral this week (and last week too, I think!) about my heart’s desires. I know what I want, I am asking God for them, and I am trusting just the tiniest bit more these days. They say that if we hand over our mustard-seed-sized faith and ask God to build on it, it will happen. I think my mustard seed has maybe graduated to a sunflower seed… I am grateful I am not clawing and grabbing and begging and obsessing over what I feel is necessary to my happiness. For these moments, I am trusting God’s timing and God’s plan.

3. Last weekend, my daughter and I had a really good time making a tire swing for our backyard. We shopped, compared, talked, listened, climbed, testing, tied, and then SWUNG! It was a miracle of togetherness.

4. I had a meltdown with my kids Thursday night. It was over chores and sleep. I let my exhaustion get the better of me and probably added the kitchen sink in too. I talked “rather loudly” (which means I was yelling actually). Ears and hearts were hurt. The wheels came off big time and I am not proud of it at all. Anger is usually a self-righteous act for me, I struggle with it and want to get so much better with mine. However, we all 3 got to a new place after the noise subsided. We were able to step back, claim our pieces, ask for forgiveness, proclaim our love, and move on in love and trust. Wow, another miracle. And the Eggos together the next morning were delicious.

5. “Yet time, and showing up, turns most messes to compost, and something surprising may grow”. My favorite quote from my favorite author, Anne Lamott, in Plan B: Further Thoughts on Faith. Our biggest messes can become miracles we had no idea were even possible… That is good news for me, because I mess up a lot!