Goodbye 2019! Hello 2020!

Was 2019 all you wanted it to be? Was it all that it could be? Can we do better in 2020? Should we?

I don't know if it is because I am getting older or what it is but with each year passing by, I feel like I don't get enough. Not enough money. Not enough stuff. Not enough "good". But could it be that the truth is I have had plenty? Maybe the problem isn't that I don't have "enough" but rather I haven't learned to tap into everything that is available to me. 2020 is going to be different. My vision is changing in 2020. I want 20 20 vision!

In November 2019 I started a journey. A journey I had started before but never seen it through to the end. There is a book called "One Thousand Gifts"  by Ann Voscamp. It is a hard read, mainly because it is written in a poetic style, not just a read to be reading. But the principal I found there was worth it. Allow me to elaborate.

Each day I was grasping, grasping for the next "thing". If I achieve this, everything in my life will be better. If I get in shape, everything in my life will be better. If I get a better paying job, my life will be better. If I earn status, my life will be better. If I own "this" or "that" my life will be better. It is all lies!!! The chasing and grasping steals from us! It takes away our ability to be in the moment. To appreciate what HAS been given to us. It keeps us focused on what we don't have rather than enjoying what we do have! And once you do get that "thing" you have been grasping for, well then you are right back to grasping for something else! 

Can you imagine a life where the struggles just stop? Where financial burdens don't exist? Where a "title" at a job, who cares! Where it doesn't matter if you drive a clunker that is 15 years old versus a new one? I can. I have experienced it. 

Each and everyday, you have gifts. Gifts that are wrapped up in invisible bows, sitting, waiting for you to find them. But see you have missed them. I had missed them! I was so busy. Rushing, striving, so much so that I didn't see what was really going on around me! Still confused?

In my journal here are a few of the entries I have made. 

90. For having insurance so my son can have his health test. So many people can't afford healthcare.

106. For the little tiny spoons as my friends coffee meeting

112. For a day of NO appointments

136. For cuddles watching movies with my kids.

153. For nail polish

165. For dentists an the people who care for our teeth

178. For Tylenol and how it helps me when I have a headache

183. For the gallop of  a white tail deer running away

214. For the kind cashier at the grocery store today

266. For skinny Christmas trees.

309. For cleanly mopped floors- no dirt on my feet

322. for the smell of freshly washed laundry

373. For not hitting the deer with my car that was standing on the side of the road

376 for the shooting star tonight

438. for rain drops falling into puddles

450. for the beauty of Christmas lights

494. for windows in my home to let the light shine in

And I could go on and on and on. How much do we have that we take forgranted??????? We can see, we can smell, we can taste, we can walk or we can sit. Do we appreciate that there are colors in our world and that we don't just see in black and white? Do we appreciate the birds in the air or the designs of the clouds? We are BLESSED!!! 

The problem is, we don't naturally see these things. We are sinful humans and our natural tendency is to be selfish and ungrateful. You will not simply wake up one day and be grateful or put other people first, it is a decision that you must make, daily! Each day (or once every several days) I sit down and write all the things I am grateful for. It is hard to start looking. For the first while I carried my book around with me LOOKING specifically for things to write down!! Now I am seeing things more and more and more. I never want to go back to who I was before! I am so grateful because God gives us gifts everyday that we don't even deserve! You will totally change your life if you stop pointing out all the things wrong with your life and instead number all of the things you have been given that you didn't even ask for!!! 

Will you join me in looking for 1,000 gifts in 2020???? 

If so, simply grab a book, number it with one and start looking for something you have been given to write down!! Let's get 20 20 vision in 2020!

P.S. If you are interested in reading the book I am talking about, here is you a link to it. :)


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