Daily 5 - Day 102

This is the sort of day that I need to make these lists, and today there are some things that are really and truly making me smile amidst the pull of other pain...

1. The funny memory of using a wine bottle, still partially filled, as a rolling pin in a baking experiment that was ultimately a disaster. But it was fun to improvise for a rolling pin upon realizing that I don't own one. (And won't be rushing out to buy one since this was the first time in three years I've lived on my own and needed one!)
2. I'm grateful for some minor relational conflict today that reminded me that I do not need to fear that all relational conflict will end in the destruction of the relationship. I'm thankful for the reminder that it can be dealt with through conversation, a request for a boundary to be honored, and that we could then move on and continue to enjoy relationship.
3. I learned a new trick for dicing onions in the cooking class today. It was worth it for that alone. I hate chopping onions. I watched my mom's knife slip on the membrane of an onion once when I was a kid, and cut her finger very badly, and I've been a bit paranoid about knives, and particularly chopping onions ever since. I never chop onions into really small pieces for that reason, but I think, with the trick she showed us today, I might actually attempt it.
4. I'm thankful for wine poured out.
5. I'm thankful for other writers, who have used their gifts with words to encourage in the moments I can't find that encouragement for myself
6. I'm thankful for utilities that are included in our rent. I have memories of very short showers overseas because of the cost of water and heating that water, and on days like today when my muscles ache, I'm grateful for a shower that will stay warm as long as I stand under it, without costing me anything.
7. I'm thankful that one of the two cookie experiments I attempted today turned out. (Cooking is definitely more my forte than baking!)
   
8. I'm thankful for the testimonies of those being baptized at a church service last week that I'm watching via video online, and for the testimonies of healing from another service last week that I also watched online tonight. There is something deeply encouraging about people crying out to be made new, and others giving testimony to the works of God in their lives where man could do nothing.
9. I'm thankful for the prayers a friend wrote out and prayed over me by email this afternoon... for the tears that her words gave permission to fall... for the enforced stoppage and cocooning towards rest and restoration
10. I'm thankful for those of you who stop by from time to time and leave comments on the blog... they always make me smile, and remind me that there are so many other beautiful people journeying alongside, scattered around the country, continent and globe.