Joy Dare 2012

I started counting in 2010, these gifts.

I needed to.
To remember.
To look.
To see.

I didn't do it every week.
Or every day.

I just had to let the practice of counting come with grace, not legalism, until I could fall in love with the rhythms of the day-to-day noticing again. It took me a year and a half to collect 300 gifts on my way to reaching 1000.

And then this week, I read Ann's words, challenging us to a Joy Dare for 2012

"....the dare to slow down and wake up and receive all God gives for what it is — a gift. Take the the Joy Dare. Isn’t that what Aristotle said– 'We are what we repeatedly do.'

This crazy Joy Dare to do it all over again because I need it, to make this the habit before all the other habits — the joy habit — and count a full 1000 gifts in 2012. He deserves all my thanks and it’s impossible to give thanks and simultaneously feel fear. Woman with the soul amnesia — she keeps remembering and needing to remember again.

Just three gifts a day.

The whole earth is full of His glory.

And maybe I could make it crazier — by hunting, seeking, looking for specific gifts from His hand?

A Joy Dare to give all glory to Him?"

So in spite of my perfectionistic self that wants to "finish," I am enchanted with the possibility of 1000 gifts in one year, with the daily inspirations to look FOR gifts each day.

The joy of discovery.

The joy of wonder.

The joy of SEEING what I never saw before.

3 gifts a day...no pressure...no fuss...just noticing every day.

And if I miss a day of writing it down, this guide to remind me of what I saw but did not SEE is there to help me count.

I love it!!

Taking the joy dare to count 1000 gifts in 2012.

1) my laugh

2) my green eyes

3) my mind

4) The blue sky

5) Cozy blankets

6) Chocolate chip cookie dough ice cream

7) "Thanks for listening to me"

8) "I can't wait to meet you one day"

9) "You encourage me, friend"

10) my C.S. Lewis book

11) my new lace-up boots

12) my new planner

13) Grace for the Good Girl

14) encouraging tweets

15) Must Love God (1st post)

16) my DSLR

17) whipped frosting

18) His grace

19) Mom's worry about not being able to help me clean like she wanted to

20) Arno's quiet in the morning to not wake me when he rises early

21) Kasi's {sis} sensitivity to my day-to-day ailings

22) The light & shadow across Morris & Mom in my pictures

23) The glimpse of that how that shirt fit better

24) The shadow made in the light of the front door

25) My hands that look like Mom's {and hers look like Granny's}

26) my Granny

27) piles of laundry, sorted and ready to be washed

Won't you consider joining me in counting 1000 gifts for 2012?

Click on the links above to download a guide to give you daily ideas.