Gifts

I sort of, kind of keep up with a blog called Holy Experience...she is a little deep but I like some of her ideas...She gave herself a challenge once upon a time when she was struggling with depression and sadness...to find one thing each day that was a gift.  She challenged herself to find 1000 things that were gifts to be thankful for...blessings from God!  So I printed out her cute little gift booklet, folded it, and gave one to each of the kids and kept one for myself.  During the day, we all write in our "gift" booklet.  It has 7 weeks worth of room to write...so for now our challenge is 49 days.  I told them that they can't duplicate a gift.  The idea is to find little things that are gifts that we sometimes overlook.  Emily's first gift that she wrote down was Mom and Dad.  John Daniel's first entry was Outside.  That boy loves to play outside!  I also gave one to each of the girls I do Bible Study with....and they loved the idea.  This blessing thing is new to most of them...but I can tell God is working on them.  I gave them two scriptures to meditate on.  Proverbs 15:13 that (paraphrased) says that a glad heart makes for a cheerful countenance.  And then James 1:17 that says (paraphrased) Every good and perfect gift is from Him.  I've been getting little texts and emails about their gift booklets and how they are doing....it means a lot to me!  As another friend of mine said, our thoughts have wheels...that either take us to bad places or good places...and they make us react in certain ways.  How wonderful for us to look at our little gift booklet and think about all our blessings..each and everyday!