The Joy Dare for 2012

My favorite book of 2011 was Ann Voskamp's profoundly-moving and inspiring One Thousand Gifts. The crux of the book encompasses the writing down of one thousand blessings from God, something Anne still works on, adding to her list (which has now passed three thousand) each Monday. I started my journey to One Thousand Gifts in December of 2009 and reached 680 gifts before being so crazy-busy this past fall that I haven't been able to get back to it.

But Ann has laid down a challenge for 2012: 1000 gifts before the end of the year: The Joy Dare. And she's helping us by posting monthly lists of Joy Dare prompts for jotting down three gifts each day.

I sat down yesterday and caught up for January 1-30 while the boys did their work quietly, and today I added the three gifts for the final day of the month.

Here's the January Dare List, and now the one for February (scroll down through the articles to the end for the lists).

So here are a few selections of my first 93 entries of the Joy Dare to One Thousand Gifts:

1. joy in the written word
5. January firelight
9. Teddy calling my writing "Hemingway-ish"
14. blueberries in winter
19. silent nights of writing in fire-warmed home
21. winter-bared trees silhouetted against rosy sunsets
22. my great-grandmother's wedding ring on my hand
27. lines on paper to guide my words
30. Pippin apples from our own tree
33. first daffodils of spring
38. Airsoft ammo pinging off front window
39. music of wind through branches of towering pines
43. cardigan sweaters
50. Kitty's gift of candle and verse--"seeing through a glass darkly"
56. sunshine warming my wintry bones
59. early bud of apple blossoms
62. forty prepositions as taught my Mr. Stan in 8th grade
64. my mother's smile
65. words unfurling from my mind onto computer screen
71. spring skies cloudless
72. ocean gleaming in afternoon sun
83. Kitty's exhortations
85. "All Because of You" (U2)
90. prayer book well-worn by constant use

So by the close of 2012, I hope to have garnered 1000 Gifts through the Joy Dare, plus add the 680 I started gathering from December 2009. So keep me accountable as I seek the giving of thanks and the attitude of gratitude that results from counting the gifts.

Basking in the blessings,