Thinkfulness vs. Thankfulness

I've been learning how thankfulness allows God's peace to be more prevelant in our lives. in the last few days, i've been tooo "thinkful" instead of being "thankful". when i get this way -- it's not good.
  

 

[btdub - Thinkful is a carolism ~ you can figure out what it means for youself ~ but for me "thinkfulness" is letting my mind get bogged down on things that i should not dwell on, or worry about, or over-analyze. it's those thoughts that make chew my nails, or stress out, or shut down. it's those things that if pondered on tooo long can steal my joy, make me mad or sad for no real reason, cause me to waste time, and can hinder my relationships (w/God & others), etc.]





so i decided to come up with a very short thankful list - just for today. it's def not extensive. it's not all inclusive. it doesn't even touch the tip of the huge iceberg of thankfulness that i need to crash into every day, but it did help me turn my "stinking thinking" into snipets of thanksgiving to our Father.

5. Thank You Lord for reminding me of the ways YOU HAVE and ARE answering prayers from my past! today reminded me to be very grateful that i don't usually sit alone in church anymore. You've blessed me with a godly husband, precious kiddos (that still like to sit with us) and good friends. (There was a time when i sat hurting & alone every Sunday & prayed for someone to sit with -- Lord, Thank You that You were listening & teaching me to wait & trust YOU!)

4. Thank You Lord for Christian fiction for these days when i juss wanna sit & enjoy a good book! (when i was getting my master's degree, i remember longing for days when i could read a non-txtbook or non-counseling related articles -- now that i can read free choice books -- i want to completely appreciate the moment. )

3. Thank You Lord for forgiving me of my pettiness. i drive myself crazy with foolish things that weigh me down. Thank You for helping me let go of some of it. im sorry that i get so tangled up in unimportant matters.

2. Thank you Lord for sunshine!! i love it -- i really do. i need to remind myself to be thankful for the sunshine because at first, i wanted to be kinda gripy about the cool temps and gusty wind during "my" Spring Break, but then i noted -- it could be pouring rain, or severe weathering, so thankfulness for the beautiful sunshine is the route i'll go! i remind myself - every day of life is a beautiful day. "Thank You Lord for the beautiful day! It's perfect just the way You made it!!"

1. The number one thing i'm thankful for today is wellness!!! Thank You Lord for good health!! Please forgive me for taking this incredible blessing for granted. So many are sick and hurting. They need Your healing -- please be with family and friends that need the Great Physician. And help the rest of us to sincerely thank You for the gift of wellness.

so there it is...5 things that im thankful for at this moment. wow!!  NOW i want to continue thanking the Father for the zillion other things that have come to mind....

open wiiiide!

'fess up! who remembers toastettes?

Occasionally my mama would buy toastettes instead of poptarts. and we pro'lly would complain. I hope we weren't too rough on her. But honestly i remember liking them. Especially the strawberry ones ~ hot from the toaster with butter spread on them. here's the carol-ish reason that i liked them. toastettes had little markings all along the edges. they looked like lil teeth to me. i would wiggle & pull them!! one by one until the edges were gone. it was a blast!! any other toastette teeth pullers in blog land??

so i'm thinking that in Heaven i may be a school nurse. Here's my logic on that. In Heaven, there will be no boo boos so why else would kids visit the nurse....well to have his or her tooth pulled of course! ;)  so sign me up!! i volunteer to be the official tooth puller in Heaven & we know there is no pain there so that makes the pulling of teeth even more funnnn!!! i do not like to inflict pain but i do enjoy a good tooth pulling!! & if  we don't have the need i'll just pop in a toastette & pull the edges off. bahahahahaaa.

yep. quirky ~ but God knows me & He's okay with my quirkster ways ;)

Psalm 139:1-6

O Lord, you have examined my heart

and know everything about me.

2 You know when I sit down or stand up.

You know my thoughts even when I’m far away.

3 You see me when I travel

and when I rest at home.

You know everything I do.

4 You know what I am going to say

even before I say it, Lord.

5 You go before me and follow me.

You place your hand of blessing on my head.

6 Such knowledge is too wonderful for me,

too great for me to understand!

Now i lay me down to sleep...

occasionally i have nightmares. these bad dreams cause me to scream out loud, not just in the dream but in real life. And now that im a married chickadee, when i have nightmares & scream out, this waay cool thing that happens. my hubby comforts & calms me. he groggily says, "you okay?" & then he holds me tight till our racing hearts (mine's racing from the dream, his is racing from being rudely awakened from his sleep) calm down to normal and we both fall back into peaceful slumber. zzzzzzzzzz. 

nightmares happen. 
life causes them. the mind works while the body tries to rest.
maybe the past causes them. maybe worries about the days ahead. maybe stress from a hectic day. or maybe supper isn't settling quite right, but whatever it is -- it happens. not often for me (thankfully) but it does!

this morning, after having a bad dream last night...i read this ~

"So they got into a boat...Jesus settled down for a nap...a fierce storm came...the disciples woke Him up...He rubuked the storm and all was calm." (Luke 8 NLT)

This has always been one of my favorite miracles that Jesus did!! i've always loved the part when Jesus calms the storm! today i focused on another part of this story to love. Jesus was sleeping through the storm. I guess we could say it like this, "Jesus slept." (winky face)

The disciples were in a panic while Jesus was snoozing DURING the storm. He did not prevent the storm from coming, but He had perfect peace to sleep while it was raging.

Sometimes He chooses to rebuke the storm so that all is calm. sometimes we just need to go to Him & let Him hold us till we calm down so we can rest during the storm. 

That's my prayer for the upcoming days. That no matter what, i will wholeheartedly trust Jesus & that we will have peace before, during, and after the storm passes.

"You keep him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on you, because he trusts in you." Isaiah 26:3

"I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world." John 16:33

Now i lay me down to sleep
I love you Jesus, with a love so deep


Now i lay me down to rest.
I ask for Your peace - cause it's the best!


Good night erryone. zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz!

Cheering you on!

last night at midnight i went to our school's midnight 5K run. i've never been to a 5K run. (well let's be honest, im not a runner. so i went to the "run" knowing that i'd be walking ;) that has nothing to do with the point. heehee)


So at 12 midnight the professionals runners, the running for the fun of it runners, & the walking crowd all stood -  waiting for the air horn to sound. WAAAAAAAAAH & off we go!!

i found some others who were gonna walk & i walked with them. it was fun & we were moving right along and we got to the first mile marker. when we passed the marker there were people standing there to cheer us on -- AND cheer us on they did.

it was the same at other places throughout the 5K event...People were there (at midnight) just say, "keep up the good work. you can do it. keep going. woo hoo. whistling. clapping. etc!! " 

Near the end of the race one of the "encouragers" said to us as we passed (at blazing speed, hee!) "i guess i sound corny, but yall can do it! keep going!" as soon as i heard her, i thought....that'll blog!!

i looked forward to hearing the encouragers at each corner along the way. i thought, "LORD help me be an encourager even when i feel like it's corny" -- because even though she felt like her encouraging words were corny .... i liked it! we needed it. it was beneficial. the whistles & claps & encouraging words pushed me along & added pep to my step. :) :)

Encourage one another and build each other up.

1 Thessalonians 5:11

out of the mouths of...

as a counselor, i talk to many children. some are serious. some are deep thinkers. some are insightful. & you just never know what they will say.

one student i talk to sort of frequently is one of these deep thinking, kinda somber type kiddos. she's a little "dark."  i was trying to cheer her up a bit & instead SHE ended up making ME laugh.

i was talking about words and how they can be like poison -- they can hurt the people they "spray" on. On and on went my analogy.

Finally after agreeing with me & acting like she understood what i was trying to say our conversation went something like this...

student:  ok, i get it...but how do you know about poison words?

me: what do you mean?

student: well you live in the "world of rainbows and ponies"

me: whaat? hahahahaa

student: hahahahaha

us:hahahahahahahahaa :D

That'll Tweet :)

This weekend Colby & i were standing in front of a redbox. The lady standing there seemed a wee bit frustrated at the box. After switching through several screens, scratching her head, muttering non-repeatables, she started  to walk away - empty handed - and as she did, she looked at me and said,
"I'm miss the video store"


Colby responded, "that sounds like tweet!"


bahahahahaa. i don't tweet so i share on a blog. 


it was a very funny moment until it was our turn at the box ~ ~  doggett it all  ~~ the screen was entirely in spanish!!!

Life.is.funny!!

Average? Yes. Common? I sure hope not!

average ~ as defined by an on line dictionary "being about midway between extremes"

That's me~~ i find myself "about midway between extremes" -- physically, academically, financially, politically, etc. By average I mean kinda typical. It's not a bad thing, and i'm not complaining about it. i'm not the tallest, not shortest, not most brillant, not most ignorant, not rich, not poor, not very athletic, and definitely not mathletic.  hee! hee! i could probably rob a bank and get away with it because the bank teller would say, "ummm, well she looked...uhhh, you know, average" heehee.

recently, i read a book called "The Collectibles" and i liked it. A LOT! it was a great challenge to the "average Joe" in all of us...The following conversation is between Joe and his Uncle Howard, a rugged, wise older man that has raised Joe.

(discouraged Joe to his uncle) "Well, to tell you the truth, Uncle Howard, I've been doing a lot of thinking and, no matter how much I think about it, I really can't change."

"Can't change what?" Howard asked in a gentle tone.

"Can't change the fact that I'm average, and I'm always going to be average...I hate being average."

"Son, you're right. You can't help bein' average. But that don't mean you can't be uncommon."

"Uncommon?"

"Yep, uncommon..." Joe crawled into his sleeping bag. He finally fell asleep, but not before making himself a promise. I may have to go through this world being average -- but I swear, I'll be uncommmon along the way.

And he stays true to his promise thoughout the rest of the book. He is uncommon in the way he chooses to invest his life in the lives of six "average" people. 

I too, want to be uncommon!! As a Christ follower with Jesus as my foundation and source of strength - I want to invest my life in others, i want my perspectives to reflect Him, i want to have an uncommon JOY that fills every area of my life because of Him.  

Average - yep!  but stiving to be uncommon ;)