Thursday, May 3, 2012

repetition.

every night before bed, the five of us sit down. all is quiet, the lights are dimmed, dusk has fallen outside. scattered on couch, chair and floor here and there, we close our eyes and open our hearts to God and each other. sometimes dad says one prayer, often we say our own aloud. starting with youngest (me), the talking to God begins.

mine usually goes like this:


God, thank you for this day. thank you that we got to do ________ __________ today. thank you for this ______ (new blessing in life). please heal ________ (sick person mentioned at church). please bless ________ (blog friend requesting prayers or someone at church). please forgive me of my sins. help us to sleep well and have a good day tomorrow. in Jesus's Name, amen.

then it continues around the room until each of us has said our own piece of words to God.

i like hearing my family pray. but here lately, i've noticed my prayers have gotten... bland. repetitive. even just reading what i wrote out here i see the blandness. i see repetition. i do more asking than i do thanking.

remember when i started a list to journal a thousand gifts (or blessings) several months ago? i want to pray that way. with eyes open to every detail. God sends good and sometimes it seems bad but what if i prayed thanks for everything? how different would my prayers be then?

so with this comes thoughts of a thirty day challenge. thirty days of just thanks. thirty days of not asking God for anything but thanking Him for everything. this includes my private prayer time in the mornings, prayers with family and even silent flare prayers during the day. instead of asking God for something, i'll thank Him for something i already have. instead of asking God to heal someone, i'll thank Him that He has that person in His healing Hands and that He is already in the process of healing them.

thirty days of thanks. starting now.




twins.
my dearly missed friend, natalie, texted me this picture of her after she saw mine wearing this shirt on my blog tuesday! love this girl and am thankful for her so much. so grateful for the good times we have had together.

22 comments:

Jianine ☺ said...

this is so sweet, I would love to do that sometime, to thank God for all of my blessings, just wonderful! xx

Jianine
http://definitelyscreaming.blogspot.com/

Rachel Sayumi Porter said...

you are cute. I love that you are so in tune with the Spirit. You are amazing! (:

my thrifty closet said...

I like your thirty day challenge, you have such a sweet spirit. It delights God's heart when we constantly thank him for what he has done. It just cross my mind this morning that sometimes I even forgot to thank God that I have food and clothes and shelter.

mongs
mythriftycloset.blogspot.com

Anonymous said...

I love the phrase "prayer flares". :)

Cute pictures of two great girls!

Allison Taylor said...

I really like the way you write your blog posts. Pretty different! Good luck on your 30 days of thanks!

p.s. that yellow shirt. is. awesome.

Jessica Ruud said...

That was beautiful. I need to start praying more.

Katherine said...

I love your shirt!! It is to die for!

Vicki said...

First, thank you SO much for letting me know about my pictures! I guess I had reached my upload limit on photobucket... :P but I'm working on fixing all the posts, and I've got a couple back up already. I probably wouldn't have noticed if not for you, though!
Second, thanks for introducing me to your friend's adorable blog! It's so sweet.(:
And finally, thanks, as always, for your sweet, encouraging comments.(:

Lovely post! We do the same thing in my family, only we say the prayers that we all memorized as little children, along with a prayer for healing for anyone who we know is sick.(: I also have my own personal prayers, and I've noticed much the same thing of late...instead of asking for things for myself, I need to focus on thanking God for what He has already blessed me with, and also praying for others.(:

~Vicki
deckedoutinruffles.blogspot.com

Bina said...

I noticed this too! I need to pick up on my praying more!

MY Creative Brightside said...

I noticed when Im stressed out I forget to pray but thats The worst time to stop!! I just have to remember that all things are happening for a reason and I cant fix them alone ;)


Steph at http://mycreativebrightside.blogspot.com

jessica said...

Such a beautiful post, and I wish you every best in your 30 day challenge and I'm sure it will bring about even more blessings in your life with this change!

Autumn @ Autumn All Along said...

My prayers are getting a little weak. I need to do a little re-vamping too.

Marina said...

Good luck with your challenge!

Lauren Vanderberg said...

hi memory! i am horrible at getting around to commenting but i do keep up with your blog. i really enjoy these posts :)

Anonymous said...

You are a teacher of good things!
Thank you for being a blessing to our family. Love, Mom

Why Girls Are Weird said...

Aw Memory, you are so cute! Thanks for sharing!

meme-and-he said...

cute top!!
Loved what you said about prayer. I know this may sound weird, but my husband and i have started to sing a worship song before dinner, rather than praying, just to change it up. That way we are making sure we are really focusing on being thankful, and not just saying the words out of habit. good luck!

Elle Sees said...

Your prayers do work! I appreciate them!
My brother got married christmas eve and time has flown by

Emmett Katherine said...

Your family sounds so close :) and your best friend sounds pretty sweet too. Good lick with your 30 day challenge, I think everyone could benefit from asking for less & giving more, myself included!

Nana said...

I took your challenge today by taking a prayer-walk in the rain. It was so refreshing. I thanked God for blessings like our street light, mailbox, stop sign, our neighbors' and their pretty lawns, the moon, our water tower, speed zones. Also for helping me find my cell phone. May seem silly but
so important. Love you, Nana

Rapunzel said...

Ihave that porblem to, but seeing this on Pintrest helped change my view adn make me a little better.

"What if you woke up today with only the things that you thanked God for yesterday?"

ashleymoranyoga said...

what a sweet post! thanks for praying for my aunt julie. she's doing really well. it's been such a miracle. thanks girl :)