Sparkling and New

It’s a shiny new year, filled with possibilities. What will you do with it?

G is for…

Count your blessings, name them one by one…

Welcome to G week!

I’m using Thursday posts to focus on thankfulness — and instead of counting blessings, I’m challenging myself to come up with them alphabetically.  (You can find the rest of the posts in this series here.)

I am thankful for our garden. Now that it has become too hot and summery for strawberries to grow (I miss them already!), we have been enjoying fresh peas every day.

Mmmm… good for breakfast, lunch, and dinner!

Before long there will be an abundance of summer squash and tomatoes.  I confess that I am no gardener, but I am grateful to be married to one!

Guardian of the garden
(Unfortunately, the greedy birds were not fooled by this snake or its friends.)

I am Grateful for Grace.

I mean this in the Christian denotation of the word as well as the everyday secular meaning. I’ve had a month on the job now and there are some times when I am treading water instead of swimming. I’m being given plenty of time to figure things out, and in return, I am putting in more time and effort than I can be compensated for — it’s a win/win situation.

Do you know the difference between grace and mercy?

Mercy is not receiving what you deserve — and not giving others a bad treatment/punishment that you think they deserve.

Grace is receiving what you do not deserve — and treating others in such a way that you are extending a kindness, understanding, and forgiveness that they cannot earn.

**I do not recommend doing a Google image search for the word, grace. The nice one that I found (above) is one of the few I would consider using… most of them were NSFW. File that knowledge under the label “WTH?!?”

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Being the 4th of July, I would be remiss if I didn’t comment on the Grand Ol’ Flag!

 

Although it does not begin with the letter G, I have been incredibly grateful for air-conditioning this week! And I am glad that we have safely dropped away from the threat of triple digit temperatures.  Whew!

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What are you thankful for today? (Bonus points for using the letter G!)