My Gratitude Plus Journal

I'm starting my third week of the Gratitude Plus journal. I designed the questions to help me consider what I'm thankful for and then bring it to a place of blessing God for His good gifts. I made it a bit more exhaustive because just being grateful doesn't always brink me to a place of recognizing His presence and action in my life.

1. What am I thankful for?
2. Why am I thankful for this? (identifying a need or desire)
3. What does it tell me about who God is?
4. How can I communicate this to Him? (words, songs, dance, drawings, etc.)

I looks longer than it is. So far, each of mine have been around 2 paragraphs.

And...it's helping me have a sense of God's nearness...definitely a broader perspective.

Heaven is actively moving on earth. :)

Keep the peace...not really.

"Let's just do what we can to keep the peace."...

Man, I'm tired of hearing that. Why?

Because what people usually mean is that we need to do what we can to keep things...calm, cool, collected.

No true peace at all...just uncomfortably silent people. Tension 101.

I saw a tattoo once that said, "If you want peace, prepare for war." Right now, that is making a lot more sense to me.

Peace...real peace...is "wholeness, health and harmony"...and it's so precious that it seems like it would be something worth fighting for! Just doing what we can to keep things less rocky is usually NOT in the best efforts of legitimate peace!!!

So, I have to ask myself...am I going to be a "calm-maker" or someone who really stands for (fights for) peace.

Hmm.

Privileged

It's starting to REALLY bug me...the number of white people who don't think "white privilege" is real.

Oh. My. Word.

Have a bunch of nieces and nephews with a variety of beautiful skin colors...and go shopping or out in public with them...and watch THEM be viewed more closely than YOURSELF over and over and over again with no provocation...ya, maybe you'll think it's a little possible.

Listen to stories of decent, non-white people who've been mistreated as compared to decent white ones...maybe it becomes a bit more possible.

It's real.

It's certainly not the cause of every issue that arises...Lord knows there is serious drama out there...but it's present.

And, to just pass over it is so NOT HELPFUL.

Beyond the "white" world...I'll say that it seems more of an "elite privilege" to me than "white" sometimes. Stories of what money buys...or what money expects...beyond the color of one's skin.

Sigh...I wish people would step into each other's shoes more... Listening to understand...

Open Wide...

Oh boy...here we go. Since stepping down from my administrative job at school, I've been experiencing a massive download of...dun-dun-DUN...opinions. Hahahaha!!! It's the strangest thing! I think the responsibilities of that particular job (and all the strategies for handling people/situations...sometimes the games...the drama) made me have a tighter rein on my mouth. A muzzle I am SO DONE WITH!!!!

So...get ready. It's gonna get messy. ;)