Eucharisteo

Between reading Ann Voskamp's One Thousand Gifts and simply knowing from my own experience how gratitude can lift up the spirit and make a way toward healing and wholeness...I am endeavoring to start anew in cultivating gratitude in my life.....daily writing in a journal the things I encountered during that day that I am profoundly and deeply thankful for.

My spirit....my mind.....my very core has been so haried, so fretful, so far from peace and joy lately and instead of allowing it to continue, I want to fight. Fight for the simplicity of a thankful, peaceful heart. I want to bestow peace and joy and giving thanks to my children, to help them cultivate the grateful life in their own hearts and minds.

Ann uses the word eucharisteo. Meaning "thanksgiving." Without going back to the book, or doing an internet search on the word, I think it comes from a word Christians have used to describe the night Jesus took the bread, gave thanks, broke it and passed it around to His disciples: Eucharist... the root comes from greek: Charis (gift or grace.....gift of grace?).
To cultivate eucharisteo in my life. In my family. In the hearts of my children.

Eucharisteo. Thanksgiving. It begins by opening our eyes to the blessings that surround us, to thank the Lord for them. And to take it a step further....to write it down....to remember. Thanksgiving.


And so....today
July 9th, 2011
1) Big Leaf Maples.....all the trees in all their summer greenery.
2) Views of the Mountains
3) Snaking rivers---blue, green, brown; the water reflecting the sky/bank/et cetera
4) Sunshine and blue skies
5) Clouds to watch and imagine with.
6) Brett Williams & In Reach music on the cars Stereo
7) Jon singing along
8) Jon making lunch and dinner today (a break from cooking for me)
9) Sunsets out my dining room sliding door
10) Spaghetti for dinner (one of my favorite meals)
11) Heidi clapping along to her daddy practicing his bass

Thank You, Lord, for these blessings. May my eyes and heart be open to see all the things You have given to me. Amen.