Starting my Book...

Yesterday afternoon I officially started writing my book...the one that's been rolling around my mind for a while now.  It scares me, this full commitment to doing something that I've always wanted to do.  I have wanted to be an author since I was about 8 years old, and I can't believe I'm finally taking the lunge.

Why is it that daily posting is so much easier than writing an all-out book??  Maybe for the simple reason that I desire so much to inspire and uplift that I want everything to be perfect?

But even if it is scary and a bit daunting, there is something so satisfying in trying something new, something that the Spirit has pointed me towards.  There is something so soothing and refreshing in striving to use my talents in a way to bless others.  Wish me luck and send a few prayers my way! :)

Happy Challenge:

What are you feeling prompted to do with your talents?  Or maybe you have something new you would like to try but have always felt a bit reluctant?  Commit to take the plunge and do something TODAY to begin following your dreams....

Filled with Light.

"The light of the body is the eye; if, therefore, thine eye be single, thy whole body shall be full of light."

{3 Nephi 13:22}

"And if your eye be single to my glory, your whole bodies shall be full of light, and there shall be no darkness in you; and that body which is filled with light comprehendeth all things."

{D&C 88:67}

How often I have read these words, like poetry, straight from the Lord's own mouth.

Knowing that the light of the body is the eye, I have become a vigilant observer of eyes.  After years of watching and feeling, it is usually easy to discern the state of one's heart from the light that shines forth from one's eyes.  In fact, the light of the eye reflects in the whole of the countenance.

But what of the eye being single to the glory of God?

How often I have pondered this deeper meaning.

Today light poured into my understanding, and I understood perhaps a layer of meaning to this phrase.

How do we glory God?  We live our lives in righteousness, always the best we can; we arise and shine forth an example of light; and then we bring Him praise for everything we receive...even the hardships.

This is, I believe, the summation of glorying God.

And if this, this glory-giving, glory-living life is what we focus on singly, or solely, it shows.  It manifests as a shining of light in our eyes.

I go to the mirror and examine my eyes.  There's the blue and the white and the black of the pupil, but I ignore all of these and look deeper.  Is the light there?  And my mind rolls back in time to nearly 7 years ago when I sat in a BYU-Idaho devotional in a little chapel on a cushioned bench.  I do not remember the name of the lady addressing, but I'll never forget what she taught.  She spoke of eyes and light and countenances reflecting the light of the Savior.  And she issued a challenge.   To rise up each morning, go to a mirror, and look for the light.  We were then encouraged to act that day in a way that the light in our eyes would be increased.

Here at my mirror, seven years later, and I still search for the light as often as I remember.  Maybe this coming year it will become a solidified routine.  

To check for the light.  

To examine the eyes.  

To live a life of glory to God...

And the list continues...
ever onward to 1000...

#752 Little inventive boys
#753 Old matchbox cars coursing through brown wrapping paper tubes.
#755 Sweet Pea's countdown inspired by the Spirit.
#757 Prayers and faith pulling Mother through her surgery and post-surgery with no epidural or pain medication.
#764 A sweet tender birthday hug from Pop
#771 Impromptu sweetness last night before drifting into slumber.
#772 This heart-building counting of the graces, while waiting for my own little "Grace" girl.
#773 Little Bug's pure, innocent, unrestrained laughter.
#775 Approaching the 1000 mark and wondering what lies beyond...

Multitudes on Monday

Last week I began my new book, One Thousand Gifts.

And last week I took the dare to live fully right where I am.

I bought a new journal to record the gifts...and recorded 100 on day 1.

I am just a beginner, but before I ever found this book or A Holy Experience, I gave my Savior the gift of gratitude for Christmas.  And gratitude is what I worked on through January and February, progress was minimal but concerted none the less.  But on March 1st when I found the book, and read the first chapter online, and found the blog, gratitude every day seemed no more like drudgery, but salvation.  And not only this, but attainable, within my reach, like a star falling right into my cupped hands.

A goal for Gratitude has become a year of Eucharisteo.

Now I am on gift #217 and I'm still a beginner, yet aren't we all?  Beginners at truly coming to know Christ? and His goodness? and mercy?

But I am starting to see, clearly, and finding joy in the process, in the journey, in the moments.

It seems that now my test is to endure the hard eucharisteo, and the things like rain and snowy trials that don't look like grace.  But they are.  Because all is grace, even this.  And all is well, because everywhere there is a well to drink the living waters, we just must search and seek to find.

Some days He showers down sunshine unending and we feel and taste of His love so abundantly.

Other days He showers down sleet and hail and we feel and taste of bitterness if we choose, or grace if we have eyes to see that storms grow the trees and plants just as much as the sunshine.  

And we are the trees....needing the sunshine...and the storms.

#1. Awakening to home all quiet and peaceful.

#2. Knowing I have a Savior.

#4. A new notebook with its promise of fresh pages.

#44. First somersaults

#48. Small tick of clock inviting me to slow and savor.

#60. Light sparkle in the cracks of blinds

#67. Kisses "left on."

#85. New spices wrapped in glass bottles.

#88. Laughing--really and truly with my sweeetie.

#96. The love-knowing that comes from 5 years of marriage.

#99. Aching hand from a day of gift-chronicling

#129. The joy of the unknown future and the adventure it will be.

#136. Red velvety cupcakes with cream cheese icing

#141. Little Bear telling me my fresh blow-dried hair was so beautiful.

#142. Burnt orange weeds all aflame with the fire of God.

#143. Warm home-baked bread with creamy honey or chunky peanut butter and raspberry jam

#145. Practicing Eucharisteo when it's hard.

#149. Mid-afternoon napping in my sweetheart's arms.

#151. Still hoping...

#162. Feeling the peace of being so close to nature and God...

one thousand gifts

It's here!  My book is finally here, and I am soon to open the first page (though I've read the first chapter online already), and soak in the freshness, the familiarity, and to see myself in the mirror of its pages.

The journey is beginning...

{Initials}

What are your initials?

To me, initials are something to represent a life, a purpose, a mission even.

My initials used to be "JG" and my father one day told me they meant "Jewel of God," and for years this phrase directed my posture, my stance toward life.  I learned how to be a princess to my Heavenly Father and I gained a real sense of His love for me.

And just recently I was pondering my new initials of 5 years..."JGJ"

Last night I sat in my bed pondering what the Lord would have me know for the night and for the next day.  Words floated into my heart as they have so many times in the past:  

"Your theme is "Joy in the God-like Journey."  

Smiling, I knew why this was important for me to know at this time.  Because He has led me to find Ann Voskamp's daily journal and her 1000 Gifts which I am patiently dying to read...maybe for my birthday (or sooner)?  And He knows I have been searching for a life transformation.  It began with finding Ann Voskamp and using her insights about life to make mine more holy, more Christ-like.  And the capstone was placed last night with a life's mission given to me in the quiet chambers of the heart.

He is walking with me now, but I guess He always has, it's just that I have become more attuned to notice Him everywhere.  I feel close to heaven, closer than ever, and this process of coming to know God better and better each day is really all quite natural when we really believe with all of our hearts that this life is the time to prepare to meet God (Alma 34:32).