addicts and thanks.

I've been addicted.

I've been addicted to structure, perfectionism, and stress.

I had somehow smeared my life into one really ugly blur. 

A dear momma friend of mine challenged me to do something: When I felt it in my veins, the stress racing through my blood, the speed of perfectionism circulating angrily... I was to audibly give thanks. Give thanks right out loud. That was it. It wasn't complicated. and it wasn't easy.

The stress intervention? Just a straight up dose of gratitude.

We did it together. For two weeks. Last summer.

I'd sling the baby up on my hip and holler hard for the kids to hurry. Oh, how the clock can tick like thunder in my ears and suddenly I feel my voice become like lightning, striking little souls.

When the stress strikes and I'm heavily under the influence of perfectionism, then is the time for the injection of thankfulness. I'd breathe deeply and say it out loud:

"Thank You for crazy beautiful kids. Thank You for ridiculous lincoln logs. Thank You for mismatched socks. And thank You that we get to be here. breathing. together. right now."

And suddenly my breathing would slow and my heart would be full.

Giving thanks is profoundly life giving.

But an hour later, there I was again. On my hamster wheel. Popping the perfectionism like a pill. It makes us all hurt. Why in the world do I do this?

But once again, I spit out that pill and pop a different one. I refuse to be a perfectionism addict.

Give me grace for gratitude, Jesus.

... and each time it gets a little bit easier. A little bit easier to interrupt that stress with thanks.

For fourteen days, we sent the stress packing and asked gratitude to make it's home.

Multiply the thanks, decrease the stress.

It wasn't complicated. It isn't complicated.

It wasn't easy. It isn't easy.

But it's really beautiful. Giving thanks, in so many ways, gave me my life back.

My thoughts today, on this beautiful fall holiday, surrounded by family and beautiful friends, are rather simple:

If gratitude is an antidote for anxiety...

If giving thanks is the cure for stress...

why do we confine thanksgiving to one day a year when giving thanks has the ability to revolutionize our whole entire lives?

I watch how she reads. I watch how his little eyes flutter as he succumbs to sleep. I watch how the light falls. I watch how the windshield wipers ebb and flow. I watch.

I do this. I record the gifts that He gives. I gather up these moments like manna from heaven.

It's a feast every single day, my sweet friends.

We are given a Thanksgiving feast everyday.

Joy is a product of gratitude. and gratitude is a product of a perspective.

We can change our lives. We just have to change the way we see.

Choosing to be aware of blessing, seeing beauty in the mundane, documenting the abundance of gifts- this is what changes what we are looking for. This is what changes our perspective.

Thanksgiving isn't just today.

Giving thanks is the lens through which Jesus intends for us to capture joy all year round.

Best friend's hands gloriously go up in surrendered worship. She is beaming.

The stress is untangling.

This moment is a gift. I watch. I remember it. I write it down.

"The sound of community dancing with one heart..."

and I feel the stress begin to evaporate. the perfectionism finds no place in my soul.

Why miss our lives?

Why miss all the ways He loves?

I want to be here. awake to His crazy Grace.

We're all addicted to busy. We're addicted to schedules and time and accomplishment.

But I am choosing to chase after God's best for me.

Seeking Him. Praising Him. Trusting Him.

Thanking Him.

And there it is, at the beginning of the gift-giving season. The most beautiful picture.

His beloved children.

Sitting at His feet counting the happy grace of all His endless gifts.

Because Thanksgiving is so so much more than a holiday.

It's the way to wake up to fully living the life God has for you.

Wherever you are tonight, rest sweetly in the perfection of His lavish, extraordinary love for you. Count blessings, collect His gifts, count it all as joy.

Love to you, family and friends.

I'm so grateful for each of you, today and every day.

~Lyss

"Enter by saying: 'Thank you.' Make yourselves at home, talking praise. Thank him. Worship him. For God is sheer beauty, all-generous in love, loyal always and ever." Psalm 100:4-5, the Message

Go ahead. Knock.

Music off, computer off, phone left on silent and put away.

I've been dabbling with the silence lately.

I don't usually sit in quiet. hardly ever.

But lately, I've just needed to listen. I need to soak up the fullness of His presence and hear His voice.

But the truth about the quiet is that it has opened me up so wide. It has turned on dulled senses. It has faced me toward some of the most raw and lonely places.

It is a constant struggle for me not to reach for my phone, always at my side. With my mouth I say I want to walk with God, but so often my actions shout that I crave a culturally acceptable numbness that keeps me from pain.

So many of us know truth with our ears. We know truth in song. We know truth in sweet conversations with friends. But it feels rare to experience truth in the seething corners of our hearts or in the hurtful, skewed moments we keep close and buried. We start to feel the quiet working on us... and we reach for the phone, scroll through instagram or twitter or facebook.

So I pursue the intimate presence of my Jesus. my heart beats in a steady rhythm. my world becomes quiet.

... and I start to ask Jesus what He felt when He was here on earth. Fully human, fully God. God with breakable bones. Then I imagine the desperate, internal communion Jesus faithfully kept with His Father. and I know I want it, too.

Because of who Jesus was, is, and always will be, I am able to embrace the lonely. No need to hide from it. I am choosing instead to ask Jesus into it with me.

It's then when I find myself truly not alone.

Even in our most unified moments as humans, we can feel alone. Even with your most favorite friends, in huge crowds. Even with a husband at your side, and a full quiver of kids. Every single one of us can find ourselves deep in the crevices of loneliness. We find ourselves feeling exposed. unfixed. Because there is no people fix, no earthly father, no covering that will captivate our souls like the covering that Jesus gives.

You know what I'm realizing in the lonely?

I'm realizing a Love that recklessly pursues me. I'm realizing the beauty to be found in sitting with my ever-present Jesus and inviting Him into every nook and cranny of my soul. I'm realizing that it's from the solitude found in His presence that I am then able to reach out to community and practice the healing of togetherness in Him.

Too often in loneliness, I look for a quick fix. I want it fixed now. I don't want to be lonely anymore. So out comes the phone, the computer, the tv.

But I think sometimes the answer is something entirely different.

What if we allowed the quiet? What if we faced the lonely? What if we entered into the secret place and asked Jesus to sit in the loneliness with us for a bit?

I think maybe that lonely place might be exactly where the door is. The door we are invited to freely knock on. The one which Jesus promises to open.

So go ahead.

Knock.

Love to you,
Alyssa

because the world needs more love letters.

I have something to share with you today.

and I am so so excited.

I really just wish you could see my face as I write this. There joy and delight and passion dancing in my eyes. I can't seem to type fast enough.

This isn't going to be long and drawn out. I could spend hours and hours sharing my heart with you. My heart for people. My love of words. The power in words. The magic in words. and if you want to, let's grab coffee sometime. I love coffee dates. and I love heart-sharing.

But today, I'd really like you to watch this video.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=n56JDif4hnw

Please. Take five minutes and watch it.

Then visit the website if you wish. http://www.moreloveletters.com/

Letters.

They're simple.

They're powerful.

They're beautiful.

My sister and I started writing letters to each other a few months ago. Sometimes they are pages and pages long, while other times they're simply a sentence. I save every single one. The post-it note scribbles, the journaled declarations of whispered dreams, and the folded paper thank you's. I save them. Because they're so valuable. I love watching the progression. Letters that started out filtered and scared, filled with fear and apprehension... are now raw and messy and perfectly beautiful. We grow closer and closer with each letter scrawled, sealed, and sent.

I have personally seen the fruit of letters. I've written about it before. I've spoken about it before.

But you know what I'm so excited about?? I'm excited to write to strangers. I'm excited to write to my friends. REALLY write to them. Not just send a text or write on their facebook wall. I'm excited to pull out pen and paper. I'm excited to send my cousin a letter just telling her absolutely beautiful she is and how thankful I am for her.

But first, I'd like to tell YOU something.

I'm sitting in the library waiting for my next class. and I'm thinking about wherever you are right now.

Whether you're in the carpool line waiting to pick up your babies, or you're in an office cubicle counting down the minutes until you can head home. Whether you're sixteen or you're sixty. Whether you are right around the corner, or halfway across the world.

I'm thinking about how absolutely magnificent you are.

I wish I could just cup your beautiful face in my hands and say this to you:

You have been so perfectly created. You fill a role that no one else can fill.

You are changing the world just by being YOU.

Glorious, messy, Jesus-filled YOU. 

The one who makes mistakes and keeps on trying. 

The one who is learning about her gifts. learning about grace. learning about dreams. 

The one loving, laughing, soaking up His call on your life. 

The one crying out. 

The one waiting. 

The one who is being molded to be more like Him every single day. 

Yep. YOU. 

World-changer. 

Maybe diaper-changer, too. 

Maybe paper-in-the-printer changer, too. 

You're the only one we've got. 

Wherever you are, whatever you're doing, whoever you're with... you are needed. 

The only world you can change is the one you're in. right here, right now. 

So carry on, my incredible friends. 

You're making a difference. 

You are valuable. 

You are precious. More than priceless is your worth. 

You are loved.

Now it's your turn. Go grab some pen and paper. Write. Send. Love.

Hugs,
Lyss

“It is a surreal feeling, to compose a letter to an individual that you have no ties to but at the same time you want the whole wide world for them. I wished them a bright day. A day full of laughter. I told them they were unique & special & really quite smashing. Really, we are not told enough, in a genuine noncommercial manner, how brilliant we are. How intriguing and wonderful we are. How much we should be commended for waking up today and deciding to take on the task of being human. It is not an easy task. It is not always fun. But it is wildly worth it. Better that we write all these things down.”