Daily 5 - Year 3, Day 177

Today's Daily 5:

1. cozy slippers, lined with sheepskin.  a gift from a dear friend, carried across an ocean at my request.
2. waking up to a quick email from the same dear friend, detailing the beginning of her experiences as a "mature student" - an experience we will laughingly commiserate about, though an ocean separates our physical experience of it.
3. a simple lunch of soup and crackers
4. an hour spent in conversation about Jesus with a new friend
5. embracing quiet for the day, recognizing that this was what my soul was longing for, and being able to meet that need
6. candles lit all around my space, providing warmth, ambience and light
7. texting with a collection of friends from school - questions about a quiz that comes early tomorrow, laughing, chatting about weekends, hoping for luck with registration and group assignments for the next semester
8. emerging into the outside world at dusk, and walking through a gentle snowfall to the the grocery store
9. listening to a new audiobook that immediately demanded my involvement in the life and words of the story-teller
10. finishing the school demands for the day and week ahead before dinner, knowing that would give me an evening to rest, and separating the day from the evening with my walk in the snow
11. Breaking the day's silence with the audiobook I already mentioned, and with the beginning of another trip through The West Wing on dvd.
12. Remembering just how much I appreciated the intelligent, sarcastic wit of the writers on The West Wing
13. Being thankful that when I cut my finger while washing out a container from lunch, it was a minor wound, easily staunched with a band-aid
14. recognizing moments of grace when the tendency to hear the accusations and feel overwhelmed grew strong
15. new thoughts emerging as I embraced silence today, whispers of Jesus speaking to parts of the journey that I am continually pondering, feeling words begin to form around those places in my heart