Thanksgiving 2011

Hello!

It's been awhile. My desire to blog has been non-exisitent, until today, so here I am writing away.

It's Thanksgiving day and I truly feel thankful in my heart. Right now, I am on Whidbey Island with all of David's siblings and their families. I love them all so much--I've married into a fabulous family. In fact, I am the most grateful for all my family members, but especially our little family of four.

Charlie and Lyndsey fill our lives with so much joy and happiness. They teach us about selflessness and how we actually receive when we give. Kids have widened my heart to love more and give more, and love more and give more, and then to give more. I've also found that dying to my own agenda has helped me to discover what is of greater importance in life. A clean house and orderly finances are important, but not as important as giving to the lives around me, not only to Lyndsey and Charlie, but to David and my extended family and my neighbors. Somehow, the bills, cleaning, cooking, laundry get done when I am focused on others.

Once again, I feel like I am learning about what really matters. I am learning about serving from a thankful heart, instead of complaining and drudging through the mundane. It's funny how we can learn the same things over and over again at different levels.

Sara Groves, a musician and songwriter, writes these lyrics:

In the mundane tasks of living
In the pouring out and giving
In the waking up and trying
In the laying down and dying

That's a little stone, that's a little mortar
That's a little seed, that's a little water
In the hearts of the sons and the daughters
The kingdom's coming

I love these words because they tell me I am doing something to make a difference. They tell me I am part of a bigger story, a story bigger than the one I can create. They tell me I am doing more than my eyes can actually see.