one hundred days later

it was july and i was in that hard week of transition back to "real life." home from a week of travel, friends, lessons, memories, and wondering how to discover the same contentment and wonder on my oregon soil. to delight in God's goodness in the entertaining is no challenge. but what about today's mess? how do i find evidences of God's grace in this place of dish-filled sinks and lonely hours?


and yet, i was so sure that there was a way. if Jesus' joy is mine, shouldn't that mean something for this day? shouldn't that be stronger than this pull on my heart to wallow in self-pity and nostalgia? i want joy. not surging and sinking happiness. joy that lasts for one hundred days and thousands. joy amid the discouraging setbacks, the garden weeding, the fresh-baked pies.

"The holy grail of joy is not in some exotic location or some emotional mountain peak experience. The joy wonder could be here! Here in the messy, piercing ache of now, joy might be--unbelievably--possible!" one thousand gifts, ann voskamp

i wanted this joy! and so i set out. set out, rather impulsively, on a hundred day journey of simply writing down these seemingly heavy-masked graces in my life.


and one hundred days later, i can say that it really is all true.

God really is here! He really is good. and glorious. not only in sanctuaries and on mountain tops, but right here. and as if His grace wasn't obvious enough in the good news of free redemption, He's poured it into every crook of our lives. these everyday gifts are not masking His grace, they're revealing it. they're not mundane restraints that keep us from experiencing the heights of the supernatural, they are the evidences of the supernatural. and what joy comes from praising the great Giver for the gifts of this moment, this day, this place!

people ask if i'm going to turn it into #200daysofgratitude. but i think it's time for the hashtags to end, for the lifestyle to continue. the heart saturated with thankfulness. the habit of seeing. naming. praising. and who knows, maybe they'll show up in a tweet or blog post here and there.

so put this blog and time-sucking machine away and take a moment to praise. what gifts has God graced your day with? feel the nipping autumn breeze, the fireside heat. see the contrasting hues of leaves. hear the siblings giggling, mother chiding, birds whistling. and worship this grace-displaying God.