Welcome to Friday's Fave Five. Hubby and I were having a conversation yesterday about how it's so important what we choose to put our focus on. Everyone is going to have negative or bad things happen in their lives or bad periods of time they have to contend with. Choosing to be grateful and look for our blessings daily doesn't mean we put our head in the sand and don't deal with the situations, but it does mean we are aware of what we choose to focus on. What does it mean to focus? The focus of something is "the center of interest or activity". It is what you "pay particular attention to". Where is the major amount of your brain and heart energy going to go? If the majority of your focus is put upon all the negative things going on around you or in your life, all the sad things, all the things that cause fear, dread and worry, all the gossip that comes your way, rest assured you will find every negative thing and it will start to spiral, multiply and take over. It's a subtle and slow shift but the next thing you know all you see is the negative and finding the blessings becomes more and more difficult. At Friday's Fave Five we are intentionally choosing to go the other direction. We are choosing to put our focus on and center in on the blessings that are in our lives, whether small and seemingly insignificant or whether they are big and obvious. Again we don't ignore or don't deal with the hard stuff, we are just choosing to put more focus on the blessings. Please join us in this weekly exercise to train ourselves to put the center of our attention on the good things and to be grateful and thankful for the blessings God is giving us in our everyday.
~ mail surprise ~ nowadays finding anything but bills and ads in the mailbox is such a rarity. Imagine my surprise when this lovely card with a gift card enclosed was in my mailbox from my long time and good blogging friend, Faith. She wrote a lovely encouraging note that reminded me of letters from days gone by. So fun to read and enjoy and made my day. Thanks, Faith.
~ attending church in person ~ for the first time in a long time we were able to attend service in person. It was really nice to be part of the worship with other believers and to listen to a good message live and being right there rather than over the internet. There is something about gathering together to lift up the name of Jesus.
~ dog caught ~ our stinker of a dog ran out the front door on the weekend. We live across the street from a school yard and he headed there and had a great ol' time evading us for 45 minutes. I swear he was smiling the whole time. Hubby finally was able to get him to take a treat through his harness to get it on him (which is routine for the two of them) . I was so grateful the little turkey didn't get hit by a car and that we were finally able to get him home. Don't let these innocent eyes fool ya, he's a stinker. Good thing he's cute!
~ spur of the moment visit ~ our younger daughter made a spur of the moment visit on her days off. I love when the kids just want to come home for a couple of days. It was short but sweet.
~ blizzards and birthdays ~ Saturday I celebrated my friends birthday with her and her favorite food group: a D Q Blizzard. LOL. She just loves them so I treated her. We spent a lovely couple of hours enjoying a good treat and great conversation. I'm very grateful for her friendship and the opportunity to bless her and celebrate with her.
What were your favorite blessings over the last week?
10 comments:
That's funny your doggy running over to attend school ??? With cats I never had a problem they just walked in or out. Here it's difficult to find positive things whith the huge amount of refugees from Ukraine who all have to find a "home" Lots of Belgiums which empty rooms took them and a lot of clothes, toys and animal food was and is collected. Putine doesn't keep his promises and had civil people bombed. With that the Corona virus has increased again, but this time they leave us free of masks and restrictions. Except for hospitals.
Well I'm glad you had an ice cream blizzard and the snow kind!!
You're very welcome. I love that we are united in Christ and are "sisters" in the Body. I also love sending my fave gift cards so...enjoy!! (glad it finally got there!!)
Aw...so glad your puppy is ok...what a cutie he is!
I love those spontaneous visits from our kids. (well one still lives here but i do love her spontaneous hugs!).
HAPPY WEEKEND!!
I so agree with your first paragraph. It would be easy to be overwhelmed with the negatives in the world right now. But while we observe them and pray for them, we focus on looking for God's blessings sprinkled throughout ordinary days.
It's getting ever more rare to get cards and letters in the mail--even occasions like birthdays, people are more apt to text or say something on Facebook. Which is fine, I appreciate any greetings. But getting something personal that is not a bill or ad is a lovely rare treat.
I'm glad for the Zoom option for church, but being able to be there in person makes such a difference.
So glad you caught your doggie and he didn't get lost or hurt. It's lovely when our kids come over, especially unexpectedly just because they want to. The Blizzard birthday gathering sounds fun.
Hi Susanne. So glad you were able to catch your cute puppy and bring him safely home. It's always a great week when you get to see one of your kids unexpectedly and share a birthday treat with a friend. We went back to church in person last week too. Very nice. That was so sweet of Faith to send you a card and Starbucks gift card. I hope you have a lovely weekend. See you again soon.
Good faves, Susanne. Cuteness is our pets' defense mechanism when they really ought to get grounded. Glad Tux is safely home (and hope he lived up his 45 minute romp).
Hurray for in-person worship! I agree -- there's nothing like being together united in praising and beseeching God.
When I first read 'blizzards', I thought, oh no, more snow. But I think that ice cream blizzards are much better than snow ones.
Oh those puppy dog eyes. What an 'innocent' look. I'm glad you retrieved him safely.
Hurray for impromptu visits from offspring. Those are the absolute best!
Have a great weekend!
Great introduction to this week's post Susanne. Always nice to get a surprise through the mail. So glad you managed to catch your naughty doggie safely. Yes he is cute! Have a good weekend.
LOVED it!!
Sounds like you had a really nice week. It's so true that we find what we're looking for whether it be the blessings or the negative things in life. I love the intro to this post.
When I was growing up, our house was less than a block from the elementary school. We had a beagle that used to get loose and run down to the school. If it was in the mornings, the kids would leave their lunches by their classroom door while they played on the playground. You can see where this is going. Our dog would grab one, and bring it home! I remember my mom calling the school to let the secretary know that whomever's name was on the lunch bag would be missing a lunch that day. I'm sure she offered to pay for the child's hot lunch, lol!
Oh good! That kind of blizzard! How wonderful you could gather together again. There is nothing like corporate worship. That stinker of a puppy. What a nice surprise in the mail. I'm way behind again last week through Sunday was very busy at our country bungalow.
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