Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, Rejoice. Let your gentleness be known to everyone. The Lord is near. Do not worry about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. Philippians 4:4-7
Joy increases when we learn to give appropriate attention to the good and beautiful things in life. This is different than distracting ourselves from worries or from the suffering of other. Gratitude for the good gives us resilience and stamina to confront injustice in the world and problems in our own lives.
Leave a comment with 20 things you are grateful for today. Here’s my list:
- two wonderful kids
- eleven years of marriage
- Star Wars Episode VII opening on our wedding anniversary. Woohoo!
- an oven with a window
- God, who I can and do ask for help, lots
- colleagues!
- an awesome little neighborhood
- a delightful city in which to live and work
- a house full of artwork done by five generations of my family
- connections to friends from every stage of my life
- spotify, and my Advent playlist
- some crazy-awesome youth who I get to work with
- wool, and the opportunity to wrap myself in it
- colors
- board games and the geeks who play them with me
- Ignatius of Loyola and Jesuits
- fandoms and their fic
- a community garden
- this amazing winter-sowing technique
- cuddles
the beautiful changes... 