Two thousand reasons

"For all your goodness I will keep on singing,
Ten thousand reasons for my heart to find." - Matt Redman

Almost exactly two years ago, on March 11, 2011, I started a list.  My list was inspired by the concept in Ann Voskamp's book One Thousand Gifts, which I wouldn't read until the following December.  (In this post, I discussed a passage from it that really challenged my habits.)   It tells her story of moving from heartache to joy through chronicling a list of one thousand blessings in her life.  There's a lot more to the book, and it's influenced my life more than anything else I've read in the last few years, but just the idea was enough to get me going.  

Tonight, I reached two thousand.  My "gratitude journal" overwhelms my heart - a tangible record of reasons to smile, reasons I love Cambodia and Pennsylvania, the people around me, what I get to do, my life.  Sometimes I picked up my pen convinced I had nothing to add for that day, then slowly recalled example after example of moments that had made me giggle or perk up or appreciate someone.  Like Voskamp, my joy in the day-to-day has increased as I've practiced writing it down.  It's what I've wanted to do all along, what I've had in my blog heading for over five years: learning to notice the (extra)ordinary.

In celebration of two thousand reasons to praise the Giver of all good things, I present to you, not all two thousand, but twenty to represent them.  I'll include all the 100's.

100. Being humbled from my self-centeredness to realize how faithfully other Logos teachers are serving God.
200. Homesickness quickly dissipating once I arrived back in Phnom Penh from the US.
300. Running into my favorite street vendor, whom I hadn't seen in over a year.  Her personality is as sweet as her snacks!
400. Teaching a very energetic and opinionated 5-year-old by herself in Sunday School.
500. Laughing really hard during a spontaneous birthday dinner for a friend, ignoring the piles of work and the fact that final exams started the next morning.
600. Two lunch table crowds merging, breaking down high school cliques, at least for the day.
700. A student's hilarious Khmenglish (Khmer-English) accent imitation.  "Ho-nay?  You wanna buy some wat-ta?  Cheap pri' fo' you!  It so hot to-DAY!"
800. Shorts with my name on them - I stumbled across the type of athletic shorts I'd been hoping to buy, and they even had the Chelsea soccer team name and logo
900. A very productive day in the middle of a relaxing break.
1000. Psalm 20 saying all I wanted to say to some dear friends who were leaving Cambodia due to difficult circumstances.  "Some trust in chariots and some in horses, but we trust in the name of the Lord our God."
1100. The awesome relationships my parents have formed in their community through hosting an Austrian exchange student for a year.
1200. A meeting at my church that moved from hostile accusations about a tough situation to mutual sorrow over all that had gone on.
1300. French and German movies on my flight back to Cambodia.
1400. A student who recognizes the hold that worrying has on her life, and who wants to join the battle against it.
1500. My sister Julia made several significant sacrifices to be with me by visiting Cambodia and by scheduling her wedding around me.
1600. During free time on a service trip, a bunch of students spontaneously gathered to sign worship songs.
1700. The sweet, intelligent, 11-year-old language lover I met at a relocation village.  (Her slum was demolished and the government moved her community to the edge of the city.)
1800. The hotel where my relatives stayed during Julia's wedding let my family eat their excellent buffet breakfast for free.  Cooper merriment ensued.
1900. Jumping rope with the landlord's 9-year-old daughter and 16-year-old niece.  The rope was homemade, composed of hundreds of rubber bands linked together.
2000. A student's emotional intelligence and heart for her classmates, expecially those who are often left out.

To be continued...one gift at a time.