Gratituesday

This week I am extremely grateful for...

Nothing.

Not in the way you might think, though.

In the past couple of days I have had a very rare opportunity to have times in which I had nothing to do. Not that there aren't alway a million things I can be doing, but for those moments there was nothing screaming and I could give myself guilt-free permission to do nothing and just be.

So, today I am officially, very grateful for nothing. And hoping I get more of it in this very busy season.

What are you grateful for today?

Date Night and a chance to laugh at relationships!

In a couple of weeks, Cypress is hosting an awesome opportunity for you to have a date night (*FREE* childcare is provided) as well as a chance to laugh at the craziness of relationships as comedy team, Barnes & Miner join us.




Barnes & Miner's credits include Comedy Centeral, the National Lampoon network, ESPN, HBO, NBC, Fox just to name a few. A hilarious married comedy team, they take on everything from eHarmony and in-laws to staying on a budget and not blowing your 401k. Barnes & Miner have one child and will leave you holding your sides as they open up about competitive parenting. You can check out their full bio here.


If you are within a 60 minute drive of Clearwater you can't afford to miss this great evening! Where else could you have a night out with your special someone for $20?!

Find all of the details and purchase tickets at Cypress Meadows' web site.

Grati-thursday?

Well, it didn't take long for my "regular" Tuesday Gratitude posts to become irregular. :) But I do have much to be thankful for this week. I think, at the top of my list this week is relationship.

God has put some truly incredible people in my life. And it is so often that it is through them that I am supplied the things that He knows I need, companionship, affirmation, encouragement, fun and laughter, reality checks, challenge and a different view point.

There are tons of things that make up my corner of the world, but the most precious piece of it all is the amazing people I get to share life with. I am a better version of me because of them and for that I am truly grateful.

Gratituesday

Today, and really any day during the last 4 months of the year, a very practical thing that I am thankful for is MS Entourage. (It's the Mac version of Outlook.) It truly becomes my brain from September to December as I try to juggle more than my human brain can hold on to. So, this Tuesday, I'm very grateful for Entourage.

How 'bout you? What are you grateful for?

Look and do

In the Gospels there is a great account of Jesus calling the first disciples. He says to them, "Come follow me and I will make you fishers of men."

This, of course, is the context on which we are basing our new series, Go Fish.

As I was reflecting on this, several things occurred to me. One stands out though. The simplicity of my responsibility in this. For me, it boils down to "Look and Do."

Jesus' challenge: Come follow me. At least that's the part that is our responsibility. And when I think about what it means to follow it seems that looking and doing are the bottom lines.

First, you can't follow without watching the one you are following closely - closely enough that you can then do the same things they have done.

So, am I focusing on Christ? Am I looking at Him closely enough and often enough that I can do what He does or would do? I believe that when I do, He will make me a fisher of men not because I've worked so hard to become one, but as a very natural by-product of becoming like HIm, of following Him.

Are you ready to join me in this grand adventure of following and fishing?

Gratituesday

Recently a friend of my challenged me to keep a gratitude list. This is not a new concept to a lot of people, but it was to me. And for me it has been a huge gear shift.

According to the Clifton Strengths Finder, my top strength is "Restorative."

"If you are particularly talented in Restorative, you are adept at dealing with problems. You are good at figuring out what is wrong and resolving it."

Cool strength... but what does it have to do with gratitude?

I'm getting there.

At times, my restorative lens allows me to see the problems around me much more easily than the things that are "right with the world." When this goes into overdrive (which is often) I can get really overwhelmed. My gratitude list changes that. It shifts my focus onto the amazing things God has made right in my world.

So at the end of the day I take out my journal and my red pen and I write as many things as I want to that I am grateful for that day. I write in red because I feel like somehow, this balances out the universe for all the critiquing, corrective things I've written in red earlier in the day. It ends the day with red being the color of things good not bad.

I want to challenge all of us to make gratitude a part of our lives on a regular basis. So, each Tuesday I'm going to host "Gratituesdays" on my blogs. And I will post some thing(s) that I am grateful for.

BUT, this will only work to help you if you participate too. So, post a comment and let me know what you are grateful for that day as well.

For me, today, I am grateful for a sense of order and not anxiety in September (a month that is usually the start of all sorts of insanity). I am grateful for an amazing husband and children. I am grateful for friends God has put in my life who challenge me in my walk with Him. OH.... and I'm extremely grateful for my new webcam and skype. :)

How about you? What are you grateful for?