Three Kinds of Days

Days of adventure:
the days of excitement that I look on with fondness, amazement, and gratitude.

These are probably the minority.  Yet, the build up and the afterglow make them seem extraordinarily brighter, more memorable, and miraculous.  Gratitude is easy.  As the hands of time travel, blessings surge.  Counting comes easily, faster than on the normal days of life. 

Dreary days:
the days that stretch out of the twenty-four hour confinement to feel like thirty-six long hours, filled with even longer minutes. 

Though another minority of days, they leave their imprint heavily.  On these days, the hands of time seem to reach out and snatch blessings as they travel the clock's face, leaving me exhausted and frustrated.  Gratitude is a challenge.

To find something, anything, I scour the landscape, turn over the rocks of events, and scrape off the scum to reveal beautiful blessings of life. 

Because sometimes, the pebble that stubs my toe, the rock that trips me, or the boulder that stops me completely, is the blessing itself.

Normal days:
the days somewhere between adventure and mundane.  Those normal, everyday days with highs and lows that fit neatly into one calendar square.

This is what I experience most days, a normal day.  On these days, gratitude can be a challenge as well.  For the days are filled with seemingly ordinary, regular events.  Yet, when I examine the everyday moments, I find multitudes of blessings, like...snow flakes dusting our yard, cranberry muffins made by my daughter, and a dog nuzzled in a pile of laundry.

Despite the type of day, or perhaps because of, the counting continues, easily or with a challenge.  Either way the list grows and my gratitude deepens.
~ Dorie

...continuing my gratitude listing...

866.  adventurous days, dreary days, and normal days

867.  snow flakes dusting the yard one morning

868.  cranberry muffin breakfast made by our oldest daughter

869.  a dog asleep in the dirty laundry pile, and later, the clean laundry pile

870.  starting our school routine again

871.  milder weather and more time outside

872.  clean rooms

873.  learning to use space more wisely

874.  taking a nature walk in a marshy, wetland

875.  finding a turkey in the freezer (still good) and a Thanksgiving in January kind of family meal

876.  organizing and purging items from the living room {the room of the month}

877.  places to donate no longer used books, CDs

878.  versatile pictures that can be moved to different rooms for a whole new look

879.  a growing less is more attitude, and asking more what can I do without?

880.  sunlight streaming into the house, illuminating rooms

881.  playing preschool board games with just the youngest, and his excitement

882.  a weekend with only one thing scheduled - worship


...and so it continues...