2000

This week, 2000 is the number.

No, I am not referring to the year in which I was part of a corporate task force as well as being the proud stockpiler of enough canned food, water, and Advil to last a year. One comment regarding that famous year....I really didn't mind having the space under my bed housing an apocalyptic heap of survival supplies. I kind of miss it, especially when I'm too tired or busy to grocery shop or there's a strategic snowstorm that comes just when we have run out of food. I thought of it again today when I perused my three cans of food--pumpkin, olives, and pears--sitting alongside a bag containing 17 remaining grains of rice. I don't care what people say about using up what's in your pantry. I call that used up. I'm not going near a casserole with those ingredients. (Yes, I know I also had apple cider vinegar and a little olive oil and one packet of yeast, but again....those just didn't help out with the already grotesque combination of ingredients, so why include them?)

So here on this grocery shopping day where the echoing spaces of my pantry and fridge cry out for food and I miss my Y2K spare food, it's all about 2000.

I topped my "thankful list" at 2000 this week. A few months back, I took the challenge to find God's grace and goodness around me every day. I got to 1000.
Now 2000.
I'm not stopping.
I have done this for years aloud or in prayer.
But actually writing it down in my prayer journal is amazing.

Last week, I woke up and tears immediately filled my eyes. It was a day that did not excite me. I was grieving news from a friend. My heart was so heavy. I plodded over to my Bible and journal and told God what was going on. (I love how he wants me to tell him even though he already knows.) Then I looked around me, in the emotional and physical gloom of early morning, and I worked on THE list. And light and truth came through that list.

Do not ever underestimate the power of gratitude.
Even if the only thing you can find is to be thankful for the warmth of lamplight and a soft blanket, go there.
Or the flash of bright blue on a bird outside the window.
Gratitude heals.
Gratitude renews.
Gratitude is life-giving and life-changing.

I will add to my list today that I GET to grocery shop. I actually despise everything about grocery shopping. After all, it has the word "shopping" in its name and I have been somewhat completely brutally bluntly unattractively truthful about my feelings regarding shopping in any form.

But today, I GET to grocery shop and that is good because that means God has provided so I can go buy food.
Without my Y2K stash, the alternative is no food.
So I'm adding grocery shopping to THE list.