Grateful Heart

Today was one of the days when Joy fills my soul, and I see clearly that my cup overflows. While so much of life here can be challenging or discouraging, I want to commemorate and consecrate this day of utter, crazy satisfaction.

I am grateful for:

• Toasted bread, olive oil, tomato paste, and sautéed onions 
• Having baby-step conversations with my 15 students in the beginning English class 
• Stumbling over my Dinka to talk with ladies at the borehole 
• Satellites 
• Showers in the moonlight before the bats come out 
• Bats and garlic because they make good malaria prophylaxis 
• Rain on my face and in my hair 
• Routines
• Long walks to nowhere in particular 
• Drifting in green seas of sorghum with waves over my head 
• Fearless children who crash through cultural and language barriers 
• Visiting my students and their families and not being able to say much but fully able to enjoy each other's presence 
• C. S. Lewis 
• Patient friends who put up with endlessly reconnecting phone calls
• Playing football in the rain even though I didn't know where the goal was  
• Long talks on my porch will all and sundry 
• Being loved in tangible ways by friends around the globe 
• My mother and all she does to hold my fractured life together 
• Listening to music 
• Mangoes 
• The support and encouragement of my home church 
• The sameness of God day after day 
• Wrestling with color classifications in Dinka
• Freedom to make mistakes