Joy Dare

November is the month that most people start posting their “Thankfuls” on social media every day for the entire month. November is the month we set aside to celebrate the Thanksgiving holiday while we eat an abundance of food, celebrate abundantly with family, and in our family’s case- play an abundance of board games. But something, I’ve done with a friend that really encouraged me throughout the year is my Gratitude Journal. It is the habit of practicing thankfulness and counting your gifts all year long.  Every day at some point we would both write down what wewere thankful for using Ann Voscamp’s prompts from her Joy Dare based on the book 1000 Gifts. I have kept this up for 2 1/2years now and enjoy it all year round. Gratitude truly is the pathway to joy. 

give thanks

When I’ve done this with a friend, we would each read the daily prompts and then text each other what our gifts were for that day. We were able to share in each other’s lives and Grow, Gather, and Connect for a small piece of the day by sharing our gifts before we hit the road running for our busy and life filledchaotic days. 

It became a quick way to partake in someone else’s joys which is the route to genuine community. With those joys shared, sometimes hard things were shared that you found a blessing in. Those can be the best kinds of gifts to look for and share. The ugly beautiful. 

For me in this season of life some of my ugly/beautiful JOY GIFTS are:

• MOUNDS of Laundry that I’m always backed up on means we have clothes to wear and that I have three wild kids to wear those clothes and fill my house with laughter, jokes, and fun. 
• An unplanned vehicle repair and hefty expense last week caused cancelled plans, missed deadlines and agenda changes due to being stranded at home. But the beautiful is that it meant an unexpected day at home with my kids on a cold rainy day with books and movies. 
• My kids growing up way too fast means healthy kids to watch grow up.
• That ugly C-section scar means a beautiful family to do life with.
• That scratched and dented base board means a lot of laughter from three little people riding a toy zebra up and down my hallway over and over and over. 
• All of the unfinished house projects and plans are a gift of getting to plan and do projects with my husband while spending quality time building our life together. 

It’s all about perspective. 

There are TONS of ugly/beautiful that you can find as a gift if you really think about it from a thankful perspective. I loved hearing my friends and seeing the ugly/beautiful from her perspective. 

I encourage all of you to keep a gratitude journal. Whether you write it on paper or text it to a friend every day. There is always something to be thankful for. I like using the prompts that Ann Voscamp put together in a free printable because it stretches me to think outside the box and look for joys and gifts in unexpected places. Sometimes, when you get to going through life so fast making sure you get everything done or just don’t drown you can easily look over some of the gifts in your life. The habit of gratitude brings daily joy and perspective to your life. 

And because I LOVE our community here at ARWB and feel so strongly about how much I love doing this with my friend.  I’m going to give away this journal to someone, with the joy prompts already printed and bundled for you. I highly recommend using these prompts and sharing them with a friend daily! 

joy dare

TO WIN: 

All you have to do is write in the comments 1 JOY or GIFT that you’ve received from being a part of ARWB. 

If you aren’t part of ARWB and have just stumbled across this post via social media, write in the comments 1 gift of laughter.  (That’s the prompt for tomorrow. That is actually one of my favorite prompts to write and share and to hear what my friend would say. Laughter is always good medicine and I love hearing her perspective on something that made her laugh!) 

If you’d like to print off your own JOY DARE printable Click HERE

Winner announced next week!

 

 

 

2 comments

  1. Julianne says:

    The gift of connecting with so many amazing women in Arkansas and beyond whom I would not have otherwise met! These women have brought many joys into my life.

  2. Terrie Turner says:

    The gift of reading (and sharing) the posts after moving back to my wonderful home state of Arkansas. Re-remembering the beauty of the ‘natural’ state. Appreciating the camaraderie between women from across Arkansas with such diverse lives and encouraging outlooks. Stumbling across this has been an amazing gift for which I am so thankful!

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