All posts by Crystal

Nighttime Gratitude

April 8, 2019GratitudeCrystal

1. Poynter’s free ethics course, which I’m grateful to be able to work through
2. A long, full day
3. Journalling all through it, saving little moments forever
4. Rolling with it
5. Being less reactive
6. Letting go and smiling more
7. All the amazing people who surround us
8. Abundance in so many forms
9. The frogs and perhaps katydids? of nighttime in Ohio
10. Well-earned fatigue

Thanks

April 6, 2019GratitudeCrystal

1. Much to learn and much to hope for
2. A beautiful Saturday
3. Sticking up for myself
4. Asking
5. Tea
6. The way my daughters slip into play like fish in water
7. Quiet
8. Spring birds
9. Poems with a friend
10. Bravery

Work

April 5, 2019GratitudeCrystal

1. Apple trees
2. Journalism ethics
3. Saying thank you to those who’ve given me so much wisdom
4. Turning toward influences that come from God
5. Poetry
6. A community of amazing friends
7. Journalling
8.   Trying each day
9.  Hard work, consistently
10. “We must have ideals and try to live up to them, even if we never quite succeed. Life would be a sorry business without them. With them it’s grand and great. Hold fast to your ideals, Anne.” L. M. Montgomery, Anne of Avonlea

April 4, 2019GratitudeCrystal

1. Muffins
2. Unexpected quiet time
3. Almost-friendly air– warmer than freezing, almost to no-coat season
4. Deep breaths
5. My daughters
6. Comfort
7. The spectrum of emotions

Deciding peace

April 1, 2019GratitudeCrystal

1. Working out
2. Research
3. Friends who make you feel like anything is possible
4. People to show you the way
5. Allowing it to unfold
6. Honesty
7. A good sweat
8. Compliments
9. Everything working out
10. Deciding peace

Sunday

March 31, 2019GratitudeCrystal

1. Baking- flour in the bowl, heat radiating from the oven, and that crisp, just-browned scent the moment they’re done
2. Sunday with my family
3. Inspiration
4. Big, white, fluffy flakes dancing over the green almost-April grass
5. My bosom friends
6. The natural expanding and contracting of life as it heats and freezes under our emotional atmosphere
7. Direct questions (friends know these are the only ones I know how to ask, and thank God and my mom, because why ask any other way?)
8. Grief, for it shows up when we love
9. And the further pain and joy is that life continues
10. Love

Morning Quiet

March 30, 2019GratitudeCrystal

1. Morning quiet
2. Sharing another’s burden, which oddly never feels like a burden but a blessing of friendship
3. Celebrating a dear friend who will have her first baby soon
4. A bit of time with my notebook
5. When things align
6. Flowers
7. Taking a moment to think and understand
8. Offering it all to God
9. His unfailing wisdom
10. And mercy

Thanks to God

March 28, 2019GratitudeCrystal

1. “And whatever you do, whether in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.” Colossians 3:17
2. A massive gift from God, that I may change and become more like Him
3. Clarity
4. Hard things
5. Character building, as unfortunately I am still in gross want of character even as an adult
6. Repenting
7. Grace
8. Gratitude
9. Praying for continued change
10. This

Fresh

March 27, 2019GratitudeCrystal

1. When others would step outside and call it cold, freezing, or even an expletive, my dad would call it “fresh,” which always made me giggle, and gave it a new perspective
2. Wrestling with a question
3. When your soul leads the way
4. Morning quiet
5. This beautiful community of loveliness
6. Remnants around the house of a day of fun and peace
7. Tackling projects one micro-step each
8. Being needed
9. Being loved
10. Loving

Sunday

March 24, 2019GratitudeCrystal

1. Walks in the woods with my family
2. Our grey house-kitty
3. Unlimited music online
4. Moving the body
5. My husband, who’s an amazing dad
6. 222 Prayers of the Bible – love this
7. When the pendulum swings back
8. My dearest beloved friends
9. Garrett, who I think about with gratitude almost every day, because his books grace every corner of our house. I want to send him a book or fifty, but what do you send to the guy who has them all?
10. Peace