Skip to main content

count your blessings

This world can be a pretty ugly place sometimes. It's easy to start thinking that the bad stuff is all there is, to get so bombarded by all the ugliness that we forget the world is also breathtakingly beautiful.

So in honor of that:


  • Dirt roads. They remind me that it's not always a good idea to rush though life. Sometimes you need to take things slow.
  •  Friends. I've had some pretty great ones through the years. I'm not necessarily still in touch with all of them, but they've all left impressions on my heart that have changed who I might have become otherwise.
  • Summer. Working in an office that leaves my hands like ice cubes every day even makes me grateful for the southern heat.
  • Puppies, even the ones that slobber all over everything. If you need to be reminded that you don't have to take yourself seriously all the time, play with a puppy.
  • Kids, even the stubborn ones. My kids have changed me. They make me crazy, proud, scared, annoyed, amazed, crazy, thankful, loved, frustrated, and crazy every day.
  • Home. That's been a lot of places over the years, but really it's boiled down to a select handful of people.
  • Family kitchens. It seems like my family always gravitates to the kitchen when we're together. That's where all the good stuff happens--food, laughter, and good conversation.
  • Writing. Sometimes it's the hardest thing for me to do, putting words on paper. At the same time, though, it's often how I keep my sanity. It's how I process the hard parts of life and how I work through things to get them to make sense. It's my passion.
  • Farm life. There are a lot of lessons you learn just from spending time on a farm. I'm glad my kids are getting to learn those lessons...even the hard ones.
  • Books. Lots of them. All types of them. Books piled up on bedside tables and spilling off of bookshelves. Books that tackle hard truths in subtle ways. Books that have taken me on adventures.
  • Physics. It's a mesmerizing subject that has taught me so much about life--about creation, about the Creator, and about myself.
  • Cake. Specifically chocolate...or cheesecake...or pineapple upsidedown cake...or really pretty much any kind of cake. I'm not a huge icing fan, though. Plain and simple is best, nothing crazy and thick.
  •  Books. I like pretty much everything about them--the look, the feel, the smell. I definitely don't agree with Marie Kondo on the whole "get rid of your books" idea. I don't think you can ever have too many. I would fill my walls with bookshelves if I could.
  • Coffee. This one has been a relatively recent development, one that didn't really grab hold until grad school. I'm a fan of anything coffee now--including chocolate covered espresso beans!
  • Family. My family means the world to me. I don't know what I would do without every crazy one of them.
  • Nature. I'm constantly amazed by it, and incredibly thankful to live where I live.
  • Grace. I don't know where I'd be without it.

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

a little bit of physics (don't be scared!)

"by faith we understand that the universe was formed at God's command, so that what is seen was not made out of what was visible." hebrews 11:3 this is one of my favorite verses--i call it my physics verse because to me it is tying together my faith and subatomic particles. no, really--i mean it! when i first started working on a degree in physics and a minor in biology, somebody (i don't remember who anymore, but it seems like it was somebody on some kind of discussion board...) told me that i would forget about all that dumb "christianity" (<--spell checker doesn't like that. hmm...) stuff. once i had been educated, i would see that faith was superstition and a pointless waste of time, something for the ignorant, uneducated masses.  while i'm sure that is the conclusion some people come to, it sure wasn't for me.                          ...

Psalm 19

                    "The celestial realms announce God’s glory;      the skies testify of His hands’ great work. Each day pours out more of their sayings;      each night, more to hear and more to learn. Inaudible words are their manner of speech,      and silence, their means to convey. Yet from here to the ends of the earth, their voices have gone out;      the whole world can hear what they say." (Psalm 19:1-4, VOICE)

what's next?

My husband and I were talking to our kids the other day about how important it is for them to learn to stand for their beliefs and live the life God has called them to now, while it is easy. We were talking about how one day in the future, they will most likely be forced to either cave to the world or stand for God, and in that moment the decision will mean a whole lot more than just social standing. Right now, Christians in the United States have been given a reprieve. The election of Trump was honestly not something I expected. I've written for quite a few years now about the decline of our nation, and I know I'm not the first--or only--one to point out the downward spiral of morality that we've been seeing for decades. As a nation founded by men who claimed the protection of God, I truly believe we chose to be held to the standards of the covenants we entered. God keeps His side of His promises--the good and the bad. That means that broken covenants have consequences. Wh...