Leanne Shawler, Artist

The first habit Ed Bacon talks about in The Eight Habits of Love is generosity. What I did not expect was how closely gratitude is linked to generosity. I am not a morning person. Motivation to get out of bed is hard to find, I always want a few more minutes of sleep or dozing or even lying there cozy under the blankets. Ugh, getting up. After reading the chapter on generosity, I woke to my usual grumbling internal monologue and thought, no, wait a minute, and mentally listed several several things to be grateful for, very basic things like a roof over my head, hot water for a shower... The grumbles were gone and I was out of bed and headed into my day with extra energy. Ann Voskamp  also links generosity and gratitude. Ann has been writing about gratitude for a long time, writing down list upon list of things to be grateful. Her book One Thousand Gifts: A Dare to Live Fully Right Where You Are was transformative for me. I followed her example and wrote gift...

I stopped counting gifts (God's blessings) in June 2013. I was pretty overwhelmed with a brand new job and I didn't feel like I needed to any more. Wednesday I decided to start again. It was time to remember in joy instead of worry about the future. It's a great way to be present to the here and now. Of course, it takes a bit of practice to get back into the habit. (Want to learn more about counting God's gifts, in fact, a thousand gifts a year? Visit Ann Voskamp's website .) 1. deciding to keep track of gifts again 2. red sky at dusk (and that's my bus pulling up in the bottom right corner) 3. red kabbalistic bracelet (with Sh'ma medallian) a gift from Israel 4. the light is all different kinds of fantastic this morning 5. double rainbow 6. golden clouds at sunset 7. fluorescent orange highlighted clouds 8. great Worship ministry meeting 9. a mistake on an art journal page is just an extra layer It's a beginning ... It...

This Sunday I'm leading the adult Christian education session at Good Sam through a book that profoundly impacted my life: how I see the world, and how I respond as a follower of Christ. I started this back in April with three sessions, and now in November will finish with the last two videos (the author’s publisher released a DVD study), plus a catch-up session, with some additional new material for those who came in the spring. The book is Ann Voskamp’s "One Thousand Gifts", a New York Times best seller. My mum introduced me to the book and it took a while for me to actually start reading it. It's Ann's journey of gratitude -- how seeing and writing down God's gifts transforms an ordinary, dull day into one filled with God and his delight and love for us. Ann's book has changed me. Writing down God-gifts reminds me to look for God every day, even when times are troubled or hard. And when I forget to look? It’s like the light has gone from ...

I am taking a break from publishing my list of 1000 gifts for a while. There are a number of reasons, the most meaningful of which is that I have discovered that once I've noted and/or snapped a photo, I usually move on, letting the moment pass. A most recent exception was watching the pelicans fly by. And so, I find I do not want to write down my three gifts a day, but I want to stay with those gifts, even after the moment has passed. Which means, among other things, I've started to write poetry again and I'll share two that I wrote a couple of weeks ago later this week. It's become less about quantity and more about quality. As Ann Voskamp says, to slow down and experience the life I'm in right now (am paraphrasing). Writing down one thousand gifts last year and I'm somewhere in the 400s this year has been and is transformative. I am taking a different path to explore these moments when I can see God in beauty or within another or within s...

Am still struggling to remember to write down the gifts. I see them. I just don't always remember to write them down. 463. green hummingbird 464. earning my paycheck by finding one small mistake 465. lovely walk (if fake landscape) 466. corrugated sky 467. lots of passionfruit buds 468. bringing the deliciousness even closer. Nom nom nom. 469. passionfruit flowers 470. heavily misting of June gloom 471. sunflowers 472. dogs greeting me so happy 473. bees looping around bottlebrush 474. dog's silly face 475. quilts and stained glass 476. bright blue flowers 477. Jimmy's skillet 478. sitting outside planning icon writing 479. shimmery paint Joining in Ann Voskamp's:

I have almost a post ready for about a series of special moments the past couple of weeks but it's not quite ready yet. 447. a moment of overwhelm 448. awesome mailman 449. mushroom gnocchi 450. I feel like I have a personal barista (thanks Mario!) 451. the early morning scent of bergamot 452. the unbearable cuteness of the preschool Shalom Party 453. free lunch 454. tuft of his hair sticking up 455. pattern in my cinnamon topping on my chai latter 456. grateful for a security door that won't stay propped open 457. golden grass 458. chewing gum (on sandal, on foot, UGH!) 459. knorl in wood 460. dog sneaking chicken broth 461. chills doing "Amazing Grace" 462. crypt-keeping 463. green hummingbird 464. earning my paycheck by finding one small typo. Joining in Ann Voskamp's:

I can't believe I actually forgot to post my Joy Dare this week. So without further ado: 431. dog barking at nothing 432. hidden garden 433. having an awesome PhotoShop successful day 434. water spray 435. appreciation luncheon 436. meditation spot taken 437. finches skipping through branches 438. the crunch of dry leaves on the stairs 439. wet crow 440. a gaggle of ducks 441. purple 442. wheelchair driver 443. bird trying to catch a bug 444. peonies! 445. quiet day in 446. the anticipation of a peach  Joining in Ann Voskamp's:

I've yet to learn to adjust to full-time work and where/when to write down gifts while working. (Also, I updated the 1000 Gifts app and it wants me to login/set up an account? When I have enough brain space I'll sit down and attempt to figure that one out.) So there have been some gifts, I'm sure, that I've lost through not writing them down. Hopefully, will get a routine figured out this week. 412. morning quiet 413. good first day on job 414. chatting with older lady at bus stop 415. saying the wrong word (but it being okay) 416. sparrow filching crumbs 417. nephew knocking it out of the park on timpani playing "Undertow" 418. heavy perfume of jasmine 419. hummingbird drinking from fountain 420. Rabbi's chili 421. sore foot 422. 9 to 5 outfit 423. knowing folks are excited to have me here 424. afternoon chocolate cupcake 425. tiny dessert 426. visually luscious movie ("The Great Gatsby") 427. blooming ferm 4...

It's been a week. As of this morning, I'm officially an employed person once more. Well, the job offer came in last week. I haven't the least idea how it's going to affect my blogging, but we're going to go with the flow and see what happens. Here are the God-gifts for this past week: 384. fans 385. another second interview request 386. cream in the tomato sauce 387. soft fur 388. two job offers 389. I got the job! happy, happy! 390. badly limping dog 391. barely limping dog (phew!) 392. ants galore 393. three pelicans soaring (1 seagull, then nine pelicans, then 12!) 394. cake (for last day at volunteer place) 395. walk 396. singing 397. bath 398. blister bursting 399. dessert wine 400. taking turns chanting 401. catching up 402. gift 403. squalking stellar jay (who just wouldn't stay still) 404. perfumed roses 405. the promise of blackberrying 406. bubbles cascading down skin 407. best burger ever 408. candle 409. restless ...

Yesterday, I posted a happy ending to something that had been bothering me this past week. You can read that post here, which also has a link to the post before which if you haven't read already you should if you want to make sense of the linked-to post. Um, I'm sure I could've written that sentence better. Here's the past week's gifts from God: 361. walking home in windy, wintry rain with no umbrella (ella ella) 362. a glimpse of sun 363. dust 364. conversation with a guy who's been living on the street for 20+ years. Nice fellow! 365. hanging out on Library Walk 366. wasting food :( 367. good chronological bible discussion 368. fluffy clouds 369. crisp cool 370. honest conversation 371. the challenge of leaning in 372. overnight succumbing to fears and unheard-of expectations 373. early morning quiet 374. cool breeze on a cloudless day 375. yellow daises 376. request for second interview 377. [redacted, will share when I can] 378. inter...

I  have no pictures for the God-gifts discovered this week, but never fear, on Saturday my church had a high tea. I was hostess for a table ( epic pictures here) and gave Joy Dare journals as gifts to my table-guests. I handmade all the journals shown (except one, because I miscounted during the process oops, so that person got bought journal from my stash of journals because I do have a thing for stationary, and this run on parenthesis has gone on for far too long). Pictures of the handmade journals and their covers after the list. I used images from Ann Voskamp's Joy in A Box for the covers and for the pages inside. Joining in Ann Voskamp's: 341. slow start 342. smiling strangers 343. new stretches 344. double-sided tape 345. "wooo woo-hoo" croon of dove nesting near bedroom window 346. almost making strawberry jam 347. sliced thumb 348. job interview request(s) 349. yellow butterfly flitting 350. cool breeze 351. choosing to watch...

No pictures this week. Mainly because it's a been a bit of an owie week (see below) and I wouldn't think to take a photo until after, say, I'd eaten what I should've taken a photo of. Yeah. One of those weeks. Still counting though! 321. squats 322. amount of dirt in vacuum cleaner 323. coughing fit - sore neck 324. sticky bowling bowl - sore fingers 325. cuckoo's racket 326. grey day 327. pretty sure Anzac biscuits didn't work 328. used self-rising flour instead of called-for regular flour -- bikkies worked! 329. busted toilet 330. broken eggs 331. headache from sore neck 332. cute dogs while out and about 333. book making (not betting!) 334. chopping mushrooms 335. "pat me or feed me, don't sleep" -- thought process of my dog,  I'm sure. 336. aching shoulders after prepping and planting of vege garden 337. laughing at TV sitcom 338. solid night's sleep 339. horrid news 340. music - "Bombshell" Joining in A...

It's hard not to be directly affected by the events of the previous week, even though I didn't know anyone at the Boston marathon, or in Baghdad, or in West, Texas, or in China. Monday night I prayed that peace would be in our hearts, and not fear. For we are always loved by God. Whether we do good things, or bad things, as hard as that is to hear sometimes. So here are the gifts from God discovered this week. 301. laughing yoga 302. overdue lunch 303. the shock of the Boston Marathon explosion 304. warming sunlight through gray clouds 305. 16 brown pelicans floating by. (Tons of pelicans out enjoying the breeze.) (I blogged about it .) 306. tree lady got herself a new blue hat 307. palm fronds dancing in cold breeze 308. the amount of dirt picked up by our new vacuum cleaner 309. Derwent Inktense pencils 310. rose-pink of sunset 311. 3 baby birds 312. cooling afternoon breeze 313. cooling shade of tree 314. university president letting us stand ...

Today, my heart full with feeling for those caught up in yesterday's bombings in Boston, and after a session with my spiritual director, I walked down to the cliffs to see the ocean. Mainly, to take a breath (and I love the sea air and the brisk breeze promised that) and pause for a brief moment before continuing my day. As I walked, I saw a small group of pelicans fly north, over the houses, it looked like, instead of over the water. I had missed seeing them on my previous visits so once I got to the cliffs, I looked up and down the coast for more. There were more. It was the perfect gift and I quite greedily enjoyed it. I snapped a few photos but then instead of trying to get more pictures, I drank in the moment. OK, I have to be honest here. I was uploading one of the photos below using my 1000 Gifts app and had to wait for it to finish sending it to Twitter and Facebook before I could take any more photos. BUT. Then, I stopped of my own accord... I stood there, w...