Gratitude Monday

In church on Sunday the preacher was discussing the lost virtue of Gratitude. I was a very good message and it got me thinking about a lot of things.

I do believe that all things come to us through Him, and good or bad, we should always be thankful and grateful for the experiences. Everything that we experience, every person that crosses our path makes us who we are.

I like to think of my life as a stone wall. Always a work in progress, my life is made up of many different sizes of unique stones. Each stone, or person, is carved by God's very own hand. Each one fits into my life like a perfect puzzle piece. The gaps between the stones are filled with the mortar; the experiences, feelings and emotions of life. And as the stones are added, the wall is built, and my personality and life grows bigger, richer and more complex.

Last week, the Musing Mommies challenged their readers and listeners to tell someone how they truly felt about them. The challenge was in response to one of my blog posts, where I told the story about the DJ remembering me from a job I had long ago.

Since this is November and I am participating in NaBloPoMo, I thought I would try to take the challenge each Monday, and describe what it is like to know one particular person in my life.

The response to the challenge at Musing Mommies was next to nothing (many thanks to Shannon for her contribution), but I would like to take it myself and describe what it is like for me to know my friend, Kim.

Kim is my Musing Mommies Podcast cohost, a good friend, a relatively new friend and a fellow mommy.

I was thinking it might be too obvious to describe her, but after considering other options, I decided that sometimes it is the people who are the closest to us that really need to know how we feel the most.

So, this is what it is like for me to know Kim. :)

To know Kim is:
to know someone who is fiercely loyal,
who is good willed,
who is slightly frightening when she gets that look on her face,
who is strong in her beliefs,
who is confident in her knowledge,
who is passionate about her causes, her interests and her loves,
who is not afraid to express her opinions, but doesn't want to offend anyone either,
who is not afraid of offending someone if she thinks she is right,
who is surprising in her humor and her capacity for silliness,
who is not afraid to ask for or go after what she wants.

Kim is a supporter. She pulled me out of a place that I didn't want to be. She lifted me out of a spiraling hole of depression and she showed interest in me when it felt like no one else cared. She got me out of the house. She let me talk until her ears bled and she allowed me to spew my frustrations and hurts to her. She never makes me feel bad about dominating a conversation. She taught me how to show that same interest in someone else, simply by asking a lot of questions. She has pushed me to do things I was afraid to do, things I put off simply out of fear of failure, and things I never thought I would be able to do. She is that forceful yet loving cheer leader that someone like me needs.

I know that God put Kim in my life for a very important reason. And while I may not ever completely understand the full scope of her influence on my life, I know that she will forever be a major stone in my life's wall. And I know the mortar, the experiences and feelings and emotions we experience together, that adheres her to my wall of life will be thick and strong.

And I am so grateful to God for building my wall this way. I am so thankful to have her in my life.

I would like to extend the MuMo challenge to all of you, especially if you are participating in NaBloPoMo, to have your own Gratitude Monday. (after all, we all need blog post ideas, right?)

I even made you a cute button! Go ahead, grab it and join us this month!

I put the code in a box in my side bar so you can grab it for your site or posts. YAY!

I can't wait to read your posts! And if it is fun for you, leave me a comment so I can check it out and pass it on! If I get enough response, I may add a MckLinky at the bottom of my posts so that we can all have easy access to the participant's blogs.

Until,
D :)