gratitude

Thanks Again

| Marie Griffith

In a recent Live Like It Matters Challenge I encouraged you to write a thank you. The real kind…. the kind you write out and mail.

Who did you send your note to? I thought of several people I could thank, like teachers that influenced me more than they know. Or past employers. Dale L. Buchanan, Attorney at Law gave me a job when I was a senior in high school. I was a co-op student and left school early every afternoon to work in his office for a few hours. It was a growing, bustling organization and they provided a place for me to learn and gain office work experience.

I thought of my family and friends and parents of friends. Coaches, team members and colleagues and bosses from long ago. Pastors, camp counselors, college classmates, professors, and mentors. And I was thankful. So thankful.

I’ve been encouraged and supported and taught and inspired by so many wonderful people. They’ve given me so much. Some of them know…….but most of them don’t.

A kind word spoken at just the right time. A hug when I felt the most discouraged. A new opportunity. A smile. Another chance. Guidance or advice. Sometimes nothing more than a listening ear. But it mattered. It all mattered.

And that’s why we should thank someone. We all have those people that touched our lives significantly and we hope they know it….we think they know it……but they don’t.

So tell them.

I wrote my thank you to a friend I met a decade or so ago. She recently moved to Houston and I miss our lunch dates. I hope she knows she’s important to me, but just in case…..I wrote her a note. I hope it brought a smile to her face knowing how much of a difference she’s made in my life and the lives of my children.

This challenge made me realize how wonderfully blessed I am and has motivated me to thank others. I urge you to do the same. Take some time to think about the people who have influenced you in some way. And thank them. Face-to-face over lunch, in a note, email, or text. Just thank someone.

I’m going to send a note to a certain big time lawyer that may have forgotten all about a high school senior that worked for him decades ago.

When I originally issued this challenge almost two years ago I’d intended to write the thank you note to Dale L. Buchanan, Attorney at Law but for some reason didn’t follow through. I’m really going to do it this time.

You all hold me to this!

Full of Grace

| Marie Griffith

This is grace.

So is this.

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And this.

It’s the beauty of a pale blue sky or a fiery orange sunrise.

It’s your feet in the sand. And a love note. And a really good hug.

It’s evident within the intricate design of nature.

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You see it in the eyes of children and hear it in the laughter of friends.

It’s the snowy white of a cotton field ready for picking. Or the blackest of nights with a million glimmering stars.

And when you catch a glimpse of a shooting star streaking across the sky you’ve experienced it.

You can smell it when breakfast is cooking and taste it in a homemade chocolate sheath cake.

You feel it when you remember a time long ago that makes you smile.

It’s every single breath you take.

We are surrounded by grace.

We just have to pay attention.

The 2016 Rundown

| Marie Griffith

I look forward to 2017 with even greater anticipation than I did 2016. And 2016 didn’t disappoint. It was a wonderful year of growth and I did a lot of new things. In one of my January posts, titled Rising, I reflected on the amazing things I saw because I made a change and decided to do something new.

Some of the “first evers” for me in 2016:

  • Ate the Paleo Diet for 12 weeks
  • Ran an 8K in May
  • Ran the Spartan Race in Nashville in August
  • Ran a 10K in October

I chose to take on these physical challenges and have learned from all of them. Mostly I learned the importance of training and doing it with others. There’s something special about being part of a group working together toward a tough common goal. I wrote about it in my post Together.

There were more new things for my family in 2016. In February we moved from our home of 13 years into my newly renovated childhood home. Our home is beautiful but there were some adjustments for us. We are no longer in a rural area and it interfered with my morning runs. I lost my running groove…..or so I thought. I just had to embrace the new and wrote about it in Embrace the New.

Throughout the year I continued issuing my Live Like it Matters Challenges but I wrote more than ever about my childhood and the legacy my parents left. Living in my childhood home has brought a flood of memories and it’s been a wonderful gift of healing, new perspective and renewed gratefulness. Some of those posts are Memory, Groundwork, Quitting, and Mama.

We went on our annual trip to the beach with many of our favorite people. It’s a special place and does our hearts good to be there. I highlighted it in my post This Place.

My son moving to Texas last year for a job, then moving to Colorado this year provided a lot of inspiration. His courage to take bold steps into the unknown is fascinating. We visited him in October and it was one of the best trips ever. I wrote several posts as a result of the trip: Possibility and Shine are two of them.

I was finally able to put into words some of the difficulties of 2013, 2014 and part of 2015. I’d start the posts, then stop. Try to start again, but no words. They just wouldn’t come. More times than not, something is worked out within me when I write and I knew I needed to write about these things. At last something broke inside of me and the words came for the first post called Linger. It took months for the other healing posts to happen but I found the words. I’ve received more comments on those posts than others because everyone has experienced loss, grief and heaviness. Those posts are called Gone and The Dark .

We had a great holiday season. We gathered with family and friends several times. On Thanksgiving I ran my 2nd Turkey Trot and significantly improved my time. Our son came home the first week of December so we celebrated Christmas with the extended family early. Christmas gets more and more special with each passing year.

God is good and 2016 has been full of blessings. But what God did within my own heart in 2016 is the most momentous. He has given me a clearer view of what’s important. I want to love extravagantly because that’s the way He loves me.

Now I will let Him teach me how to do it.

All-Time Favorites

Overflowing

| Marie Griffith

I sit here in wonder………….my heart overflowing with thankfulness.

Thankful to the Giver. The One who gives me all that I have.

Thankful to the One who turns it all into something good. My mistakes and rebellion, my faith and doubt, the joy and trials and all the pain, the good parts and the ugly ones too.

In wonder of the Heart Changer. He’s mending the broken places and softening the hardened ones.

Praising the One who loves extravagantly and is teaching me to do the same. Patiently.

He never gives up on me. He’s always with me.

Thank You God.

You are a good, good Father.

Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.            I Thessalonians 5:16-18

The Edge

Image | | Marie Griffith

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At the edge of my grandmother’s yard there was a rock wall that separated our yard from hers. My little sister and I jumped over those rocks a thousand times. We used the rock wall as a hurdle in the pretend race courses we created.

“Run around the pecan tree and back to the barn, from the barn to the apple tree then run and jump over the rock wall. To the gravel road back through the yard over the rock wall and down to the pines. Climb the mimosa tree and down the mimosa tree then up the gravel road to the mailbox. Whoever touches the mailbox first wins.”

I can’t remember who won most of the time. Maybe we took turns winning. I do remember that when we finished the course we felt we’d done something big. Our rock wall hurdle seemed tall way back then.

The rocks are still there……exactly as they were when I was a little girl. Now I can step over those large old rocks with ease.  img_4544

The rocks haven’t changed.

But I have.

“Let your roots grow down into him, and let your lives be built on him. Then your faith will grow strong in the truth you were taught, and you will overflow with thankfulness.”         Colossians 2:7

In response to the Daily Prompt Cusp.

Thanks

| Marie Griffith

This is the 3rd in a series of challenges I am issuing in my Live Like it Matters Challenge. Each week you are challenged to do something to make a positive difference in the lives of those around you, in the place around you, wherever you are.

Why?  Because the world needs you and me to see those around us and to connect with them.

For 2 weeks we were challenged to say hello to strangers.thank+you I had some eye-opening encounters that only intensified my need to encourage you to live on purpose….to live like it matters. It also affirmed why I need to be intentional about connecting with others.

This week the challenge will take a bit more thought than saying hello but it’s still simple.

Write a thank you note. Easy, right?  I know what you’re thinking. You’re thinking you’ll send a quick text to your friend thanking her for listening to you complain about your job the other day. Or you’ll send one of those free E-cards.

Nope – that’s not the challenge. The challenge is to write a thank you note with a pen on real paper or in a real card. Then………mail it!

Yes, mail it. Just think how special your friend will feel when she gets that card in the mail. Within the pile of junk mail will be a little card personally addressed to her. She’ll wonder about it, open it, and read it. She’ll feel appreciated and then smile.

Maybe instead of a friend, you’ll write a note to your brother, or your parents, or a teacher that encouraged you in high school. Your spouse, a child, a co-worker, or the guy at the deli-counter that goes the extra mile to help you.

I know what this means for most of us. We have to look up an address on WhitePages.com or text the person to ask the address or search even further. It’s okay. And you may have to buy stamps. That’s okay, too. They’re sold most anywhere now.

All of this will be totally worth it to the person receiving the thank you. It will be worth it to you, too, because you’ve made someone know they matter. You’ve let someone know they’re valued. You’ve done something good on purpose.

Who are you sending a thank you note?

“Feeling good about your life, but not expressing a heartfelt ‘thank you,’ is like wrapping a gift for someone and never giving it to them.”  Chip Conley