By Lynne Baab —
My older son turns 40 in a few weeks, and I’ve battled insomnia since I was pregnant with him. Thankfully, “battled” is no longer the correct word. In the past decade or so, I have peacefully acknowledged that I will have periods of sleeplessness some nights. I use those times for prayer and reflection.
I’ve created four imaginary worlds where I often spend time during the night hours when I’m awake. In three of the worlds, I have designed places where I engage in thankfulness. I want to tell you about these mental pictures that I have dreamed up because one of them may help you notice the things you’re thankful for and express those thanks to God.
One of my worlds has a large thankfulness garden full of identical sculptures of various sizes. The sculptures are shaped like waffle ice cream cones which sit upright on their small end. The sides of the cones are covered with swirling designs that are three dimensional enough that little ornaments can be hung on the swirls.
Each time I visit that garden with Jesus by my side, I erect a new sculpture. The size depends on how many things I want to be thankful for at that time. Sometimes my prayers focus on things I’m thankful for from that day or the last few days. Each item I’m thankful for becomes an ornament that I hang on the sculpture for that day or time period. Sometimes the sculpture focuses on an aspect of my life, such as things I’m thankful for in relationships or things I’m grateful for about my home.
All of the large and small sculptures from past moments of thankfulness stay there. I can’t remember exactly what’s on all the ornaments, or even what the topic of each thankfulness sculpture was, but when I imagine walking in the garden among dozens of thankfulness sculptures, the sheer number of them reminds me of how good God has been to me.
Another of my worlds has a tree painted on a interior wall of a house. Again, the tree is tree dimensional enough that I can hang thankfulness ornaments on it. Across from the tree, in my imaginary room, is a sofa where I sit beside Jesus looking at the tree and generating ornaments for it. On the tree, the ornaments are not in topics like the sculptures in my other imaginary world. I just hang all sorts of random things I’m thankful for on that tree.

Illustration by Dave Baab
My third imaginary thankfulness place involves a sculpture of hands sitting on a deck overlooking a valley with Mount Rainier on the other side. The sculpture is about my height, showing a left and right forearm touching on their inner sides, with the hands spread back, uplifted toward the sky. You can see what it looks like in the illustration for this post. When I visit that deck, I think of things I’m grateful for and I lay them in the hands of the sculpture. Because the hands are raised toward heaven, I have the sense of bringing those moments of thankfulness into God’s presence.
The conscious practice of thankfulness has changed my life. Twenty-five years ago my husband and I decided to begin every prayer time with thankfulness. At that time, he and I were praying prayers of desperation two or three times a week. Our kids were demanding teenagers, he was unhappy at work, and I was uncertain what to do professionally. We decided our prayer times were so negative that we needed a change.
Thankfulness prayers with my husband taught me to notice good things in the middle of challenges. As I bring those good things into God’s presence, my relationship with God is strengthened. My three thankfulness places in my imaginary worlds grew out of the blessing that thankfulness prayers have proven to be. Taking time to notice God’s free and generous gifts switches our perspective from absence to fullness. When we bring those words or images of thankfulness to God, we affirm our dependence on God and our delight in God’s goodness. Our relationship with God is nurtured.
It’s time to get ready for Advent and Christmas. It may seem a little early to some but with Celtic Advent beginning November 15th, it really is time to figure out what we want to do during the season. Last year I added this list of Advent image books to our resource lists. This year I wanted to add a new collection to our list of resources – Advent devotionals.
There is an overwhelming array of devotionals out there but I have several go to gems that I love to return to each year. This year (not surprisingly) I am supplementing them with our Godspace Advent/Christmas devotional cards. As well as that I asked my Facebook friends what they would suggest and they came back with a number of delightful sounding books that I have added to the list. Just remember – I have not read most of these devotionals and they are contributed by people with a very diverse theological background – which is part of what I love about my Facebook friends. They really are a very diverse community.
Amy Robinson: Image of the Invisible.
A Redemptorist Pastoral Publication: Advent and Christmas with Thomas Merton
Bud Holland: Advent Presence: Kissed by the Past, Beckoned by the Future
Crossan and Borg: The First Christmas
David Cole: Celtic Advent
Dietrich Bonhoeffer: God is in the Manger
Enuma Okoro: Silence and other Surprising Invitations of Advent,
Heidi Haverkamp: Advent in Narnia!
Gayle Boss: All Creation Waits: The Advent Mystery of New Beginnings
Henri Nouwen: Advent and Christmas Wisdom
Jan Richardson: Sacred Journeys
Jean McLachlan Hess: Journey to the Manger with St. Patrick and Friends.
Jim Bishop: The Day Christ was Born
Lucy Rycroft: Redeeming Advent (partly but not exclusively for busy mothers)
Madeleine L’Engle and Luci Shaw: Wintersong.
Michael McKay and Claire Brown: Keep Watch with Me: An Advent Reader for Peacemakers
Paula Gooder.: The Meaning is in the Waiting,
Richard Rohr: Preparing for Christmas
Trystan Owain Hughes: Real God in the real world
Walter Brueggemann: Celebrating Abundance
Wendy Wright: The Vigil
Godspace Resources:
- Lean Towards the Light this Advent & Christmas bundle
- Lean Towards the Light Advent Retreat Online
- Advent Prayer Cards – 1 set
- Advent Prayer Cards – 3 sets
- Advent Prayer cards digital download
- Advent in a Jar – free downloadable activity
- Color Your Way Through Advent and Christmas – A free downloadable coloring book for the season
- A Contemplative Service for Advent
- Advent Activities for Families and Kids
- Resources for Blue Christmas
- Getting Ready for Advent/Christmas Worship Resources
- Advent Candle Light Liturgy
- Liturgy for the First Sunday of Advent
- Celtic Liturgies for Advent by John Birch
- An Advent Prayer by Walter Brueggemann
- Make Room – An Advent Prayer
- Helping Kids Give Back This Advent/Christmas
- Music from a Rich Array of Traditions
- What On Earth Are the O Antiphons
- Celebrate with Simplicity this Christmas
- Choosing a Scripture Reading Plan for the Coming Year
- Advent meditation videos by Christine Sine
- Lean Towards the Light – Another Advent Video by Christine Sine
More Free and/Or Downloadable:
Toward Christmas – An Advent Reflection (free & downloadable from Anglican Overseas Aid Australia)
Brenda Griffin Warren Celts to the Crèche (Celtic 40 days of Advent free online Devotional)
More Resources
If this list does not provide what you are looking for check out the 30 suggestions that Paul Neeley has on his website.
NOTE: As an Amazon Affiliate, I receive a small amount for purchases made through appropriate links.
by Lilly Lewin
Welcome to November! a new month…moving us closer to a new year! Advent begins the new year of the church calendar, and celtic advent starts even earlier, on November 15 (really at sunset on November 14th) and runs the 40 days before Christmas. Wow! That’s a wee bit scary! I’m still somewhere back in September. I blinked and October is gone! And don’t forget Thanksgiving! Check out the Gratitude Scavenger Hunt to help you get in a grateful space for the month.
Today is All Saint’s Day…a day to remember those who have gone before us into God’s presence. Christine has a great post from last week with beautiful prayers and reflection on this holiday. Here are a few of my ideas to help us remember this weekend.
Light a candle and keep it burning today in remembrance of someone in your life who has died in the past year. This can be a friend, family member, or someone who has impacted your life that you might not have known personally.
Remembering can be hard and sometimes painful work…so be kind to yourself as you reflect on your friends and family members who have died this year. Grief is a holy thing that takes on many forms. Give yourself time to heal and to be in this space of loss.
Cook or bake a recipe from a family member whom you’d like to remember.
Share stories around the table about a favorite family member or friend who has impacted your life. They can be someone who has gone to be with God or someone still on earth.
Spend some quiet time remembering a friend, family member, author, or other person who has impacted your life. Write a poem, prayer, or story about them.
Look through old photos and take time to remember.
Who are some of the “Saints of Old” who have impacted your life or your faith?
Who are some current Saints who are helping you grow and making you think or change or deepen your faith? Spend some time thanking God for them. Take some time to Learn more about them.
Who are the people who have impacted your life for God and been an encouragement to you?
Are these Saints still living or have they gone on to be with God? What are other ways you can remember them today?
Many churches have All Saint’s Services this weekend that you might find helpful.
As you take time to reflect and remember this weekend, allow God to hold you in the the palm of God’s hand. Know that Jesus is with you in your joy and in your sorrow and in your remembering.
By Sue Duby —
Buried under hanging jackets, Chuck and I wiggled to make room for each other in our tiny “safe place” closet under the stairwell. With a small blanket tucked underneath us as a barrier from the cold tile floor, we glued our eyes to the live weather feed on my phone.
We’ve done this drill before. “Tornado Alley” living in Texas, Tennessee and now Arkansas. Five closet visits in the past 6 months. Jolted awake from a deep sleep with phones blaring another weather alert. Usually just thunderstorms or flash flooding to watch. This time, “Tornado Warning!”.
We stumbled upstairs, snuggled under blankets and clicked the remote to a local news station. “Circulation spotted… storm heading toward Pinnacle Hills in Rogers…take shelter now!”. That’s us! Down to the closet yet again.
Once settled, we paused to listen. We turned to each other, exclaiming at the same time, “This sounds different!”. Wind sounds we’d never heard. In the quiet, both of us pondering, “This could be really bad!”.
Finally, after 20 minutes, sounds diminished and we ventured out of the closet. Grabbing a flashlight, we peaked out the front door to see a debris strewn street and our porch bench next to the neighbor’s front door. In the backyard shadows, a tree lay sideways next to our toppled garden swing. With nothing to be done in the dark, we headed back to bed.
Tossing and turning, with head spinning and adrenalin pumping, I finally saw light peaking through our shutters. I headed out to the street, just in time to join other neighbors emerging from their homes. Chatting erupted, as if in a group convention. All of us blurting out stories, making sure all were ok. Wide eyed, anxious, comparing damage, shaking our heads.
Leigh’s front door buried under 4 downed trees. Bev’s loaded apple tree snapped in two. Massive oaks and maples uprooted. Tips of pine trees pointing skyward, looking like giant sharpened pencils from the wind shear’s furry. Head of Security driving by with a wave and shout, “This is going to be one long day!”.
It’s so very strange. Journeying on the “other side” after years of disaster response work. Coming up for air after the event, instead of watching from afar for a moment to come alongside with encouragement. Knowing others suffered more damage and struggling to be ok with grieving my seeming minor losses. Trying replay the words we so often spoke to disaster survivors…”Your disaster is your disaster. Don’t compare. It still hurts“. Easier to say, than to absorb in my head and heart. Knowing the landscape of our very own neighborhood will look different for years to come.
As I sat staring out the window this morning, 3 days later, heart pumping a bit slower, I heard a whisper…”The view is different. Put on a new filter”. Hmm. Different indeed! Neighbors behind us lost 5 trees. Limbs buried their pool. Their yard sits bare, with stumps dotting the space. I looked and sighed, knowing the sheltering green vista we once enjoyed is gone, replaced by the now ugly concrete fence line, once hidden. “Lord, help me to adjust my lenses!”
I paused and sensed a shift. Trees gone, piles of debris and yet… gratefulness welling up. Even a tiny chuckle. Then the “thank you” flood began.
Sunshine. The quirky chinaberry tree towered over our swing. Delightful summer shade on cool mornings, while I rocked with my cup of coffee. White winter berries hanging like ornaments through the winter months. Now, totally uprooted, the trunk smashing our fence and toppling the swing. And yet… realizing my flower garden next year will have 3 more hours of sun! Already dreaming of what to plant next!
Mysteries. Our green bench sits tucked in a corner next to the front door. The swirling winds lifted it up, away from our house, over a 4 foot bush, then sideways to the neighbors walkway. And yet…not a scratch. Left standing upright. Who can understand such wonder?
Mercies. Driving through the neighborhood that first morning, we gasped at uprooted trees lying across nearly every yard – some 50 feet high! Huge limbs torn from trunks flung far, smashing cars, crushing landscapes. A confirmed EF 1 tornado. And yet… not a single roof torn off. Not a window shattered. All houses still standing.
New vistas. My view out back brings waves of sadness. I’ve bragged about the lush green surrounding our yard. The concrete wall stands stark and dreary. And yet… the lost trees were old and scary. Ready to fall into our yard with a puff of wind. A landscaper is already at work to create a new oasis for our neighbors. Now I’m excited to discover what fresh wonder will soon peak over that crazy wall!
Community. We’re all sad. Scrambling to clean up debris. Pondering how to fix fences, check roof shingles and broken sprinkler pipes. And yet. . . we’re bonded. We’ll be swapping stories for months to come. We can smile and nod with a new connection that says, “I understand!”.
“Vision filters” determine my view at all times. God knows our hearts in struggle, in suffering, in unexpected circumstances. Honest wrestling is good and healthy. Then, in the midst, He wants us to being willing for a perspective shift. Sliding on the gratitude filter. Not just slapping a quick, “I’m fine now! God’s got it!”. Rather, an open heart that says, “God show me Your perspective. This still hurts, but remind me of where You’re at work. Let me see as you see.”
True wonder comes in such release. Making way for His whispers in the midst. Trusting that good will come, His presence will be felt and that you’ll even find yourself breaking out with a smile.
I’m grateful to be on “the other side” of the story this time around. My understanding is deeper. My heart is more tender. I can see more clearly. The wonder of His grace continues.
By Carol Dixon —

Photo by Hannah Walden (aged 14)
God gives us freely
hearts that are thankful,
strength for the task,
people who love us,
joy in our service,
all we have need of
if we but ask.
God will be with us
in all our thinking,
in all our speaking,
in all we do;
and as we praise him
by all our actions,
he will be with us,
seeing us through.
God in the morning,
God in the noontide,
God in the evening,
throughout the day;
God is within us,
and all around us,
behind, before us
all of the way.
© Carol Dixon 1998
October for me is a month of thanksgiving with its glorious autumn colours and joyous harvest celebrations. (It also happens to be my husband’s birthday – which he shares with one of our granddaughters!) November though is an entirely different kettle of fish. Dark dreary days when the damp cold seeps into my bones and as soon as early November arrives my spirits slump and my soul often seems as fogbound as the weather. So how can this month be a season of gratitude? Yet God has a way of breaking through the mist of misery by reminding me of ways to discover pointers to praise.
When my brother and I were confined to the house as youngsters by the relentless drizzle we used to hold raindrop races – choosing one particular raindrop on the window to follow as it slowly made its way down the glass to see which one arrived at the bottom first. We often accompanied it by singing the children’s song which went something like this: ‘ Down came the raindrops on a cloudy day, washing all the pavements, cleaning dirt away. Pitter patter pit, pat, this is how they came, thank you God for sending us the soft refreshing rain’ and it still reminds how necessary water is for life and how thankful we should be, not only for clean water to drink but for Jesus, the living water who refreshes and sustains our spirits in the arid times on our faith journey.
As a hymn writer most of my thanksgiving is in the form of music. In my childhood I thought that since I was called Carol (meaning Song of joy) I was meant to sing and, despite being very shy, if people asked me to sing for them, I did. So singing for me is the most natural way of expressing my gratitude to God. The above hymn ‘Every new morning’ came to me one morning in my daily devotions – words & music together as I offered praise to God*. I first discovered the gift God had given me of composing hymns when I was laid aside with illness some years ago and couldn’t get to church each week as usual so it was in a time of ‘exile’ in my life that I learned to ‘Sing the Lord’s song in a strange land’ and I am so blessed and humbled that my hymns seem to speak to people who are struggling to find a way to praise and thank God.
So if dull dark days (or arid dry days) are getting you down you might like to think about your favourite hymn of thanksgiving? How does it change your attitude to life when you sing it? My favourite hymn is ‘Give to me Lord a thankful heart’ by Revd .Caryl Micklem – a wonderful prayer for God’s grace to live in a spirit of thankfulness. I hope you enjoy it below too!
Give to me, Lord, a thankful heart
And a discerning mind;
Give, as I play the Christian’s part,
The strength to finish what I start
And act on what I find.
When, in the rush of days, my will
Is habit bound and slow,
Help me to keep in vision, still,
What love and power and peace can fill
A life that trusts in you.
By your divine and urgent claim,
And by your human face,
Kindle our sinking hearts to flame,
And as you teach the world your name
Let it become your place.
Jesus, with all your church I long
To see your kingdom come:
Show me your way of righting wrong
And turning sorrow into song
Until you bring me home.
© Caryl Micklem
Whether the weather is dismal or sunny, whether your life is sad or happy, may you always have a song of gratitude in your heart.
*(In the Church of Scotland hymnbook it is set to the tune Bunessan – Morning has broken. If you would like a copy of my original music I will be happy to email it.
By Steve Wickham —
March 2004. It was five months to the day when I discovered the way to a transient hope that would stay with me as much as I practiced it. Through it came peace, which quickened me to a joy, that, if I could feel this now, with all I’d lost, there must be something of God in it.
My joy was extant in gratitude. Not that I was ‘happy’. I hated having so much of what I’d come to love taken from me overnight. Gone. Never to return. Oh, living horror.
Therefore, in order to keep me from becoming conceited, I was given a thorn in my flesh, a messenger of Satan, to torment me. 8 Three times I pleaded with the Lord to take it away from me. 9 But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me. 10 That is why, for Christ’s sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong. — 2 Corinthians 12:7b-10 (NRSV)
But there I was. What could I do? I couldn’t change my circumstances, and even the apostle Paul was rebuffed by God who wanted to take him to better (2 Corinthians 12:8-10).
You see, God knew. Until we come to gather up all the joy that’s possible even in the mode of grief, we cannot say we have experienced all that God wants to give us.
That sounds harsh I expect. It was hard to type those words. But there is something beyond needing to be comfortable to live content. It honestly inspires me, the strength of patience and perseverance in those who gave up long ago their insisting that God make their situation right.
Now, I do think there are situations in all our lives where we’re ‘not there yet’. I have them. This, of course, according again to Paul, is so that we don’t become conceited (2 Corinthians 12:7).
Even if these words would seem abhorrent as far as them seeming far from possibility, we need to be reminded that hope is what gets us through, and without hoping upon something over the horizon that we believe is possible our situation really is hopeless. Then, we—our joy and our peace—and our ability to be patient, and to endure—begin to die.
Gratitude, therefore, is a key indicator that we’re beginning to live out this eternal principle that the world can never understand.
So, God gives us something with which to procure hope. It is plainly in the concept of impossibility, at least as it’s a concept to be understood in a worldly sense.
But joy will quicken within us so long as we believe it’s possible. Some days, we must admit, it will seem beyond us, however. On such days of rabid weakness, we simply hold the concepts of hope and joy and peace for gratitude aloft, and pray, “Lord, may they be real in my mind at least once today, and may you gift me one experience today. For that at least I will be grateful.”
These words I pray are not selected and arranged and sequenced flippantly, and I do pray that God would forgive me if they cause pain, but it’s to hope that I see that we’re called—whether in loss or in lack, or in plenty or in peace.
Let us hold fast to the possibility of a joy-remitting-gratitude even amid loss. Let us trust God that this is possible and let us search with a tenaciously patient will.
Loss does change us forever. It does. But that change doesn’t need to be for bad.
by Christine Sine
I often feel that I am an absolute novice when it comes to prayer. You might say that Jesus teach me to pray is the quest of a lifetime. I love the Lord’s Prayer but often find it inadequate especially when faced with disaster or grief. I am constantly looking for new ways to draw close to God in the midst of my pain and sometimes there are just no words to express what is resident in my heart.
A few weeks ago a close friend had a heart transplant. It was unexpected and devastating not just for the family but for all who love her. How to pray? How to pray? How to lift the fears, anxieties and hopes in our hearts before God? Words seemed so inadequate.
This Is Prayer – No Words Needed
Fortunately someone else had the answer. At our next community meal Hilary brought out some beautiful heart shaped templates she downloaded from the internet and asked us to color them. Even the kids had a go.

Even the kids had a go
The evening was spent in silence, but as I looked at what we had created I thought “This is prayer – no words needed”

heart prayers in the bulletin
A couple of weeks later I spoke at my friend’s church. Heart shaped templates were included in the bulletin and people colored while I preached. It was a profoundly moving morning and at the end of the service we collected about 100 hearts to send to the hospital. “This is prayer – no words needed.”
When we confine our prayers to words we limit both the ways that God has given us to draw close and the ways to express the pain, sorrow and even joy in our hearts. Prayer is meant to be an expression of all our senses. There are times for words, times to paint, times to touch and feel and embrace. These are all prayers.
As I thought about this today, I realized how surprising this expression of prayer was for me. Generally speaking I don’t like coloring. I often paint rocks, write poetry, or doodle, but coloring is not my thing. But in this moment of turmoil, tears and grief it was an important way to express what was in my heart.
Jesus Teach Us to Pray
When was the last time you cried out to Jesus teach me to pray, being open to a fresh expression unlike your usual ways of prayer? Is there a form of prayer that you have tried but not found satisfying that you might like to experiment with again? Have you limited Jesus ability to speak to and through you because you have restricted your prayers to traditional forms that may not express what is in your heart?
Prayerfully consider new possibilities for prayer. You might like to read through some of these articles from a past Godspace series on prayer to help you. And if you have discovered other ways to pray let us know. We all need to learn from each other.
Lord Teach Us to Pray: The Quietest Prayer by Monette Chilson
Lord Teach Us To Pray: Sailing Over the Sea of Affliction by Steve Wichkam
Conversations with my Granddaughter: On Prayer by Alex Tang
Lord Teach Us to Pray: St Columba’s Vigil by Greg Valerio
Lord Teach Us to Pray: Reimagining How We Pray by Lisa Hewitt – Day 1
Lord Teach Us to Pray: Reimagining How We Pray by Lisa Hewitt – Day 2
Lord Teach Us to Pray: Reimagining How We Pray by Lisa Hewitt – Day 3
Lord Teach Us to Pray: Knitting and Praying, by Christine Dutton
Monday Meditation: Beginning the Week with Mindfulness – by Gene Anderson
Lord Teach Us to Pray: Why Pray? by James Prescott
Lord Teach Us to Pray: Prayer Poem by Postordinandy
Lord Teach Us to Pray: The Prayer Window by Kimberlee Conway Ireton
Lord Teach Us to Pray: Nothing to Say to God by Joy Wilson
Lord Teach Us to Pray: How I See The Lord’s Prayer by John C. O’Keefe
A Blogger’s Lord’s Prayer by Andrew Jones
Lord Teach Us to Pray: Everyday Walking, Talking Prayer by Steve Wickham
Lord Teach Us to Pray: Prayer of Devotion, Prayer of Knowledge, Prayer of Action, by Gene Anderson
Lord Teach Us to Pray: On Prayer by Ryan Harrison
Lord Teach Us to Pray: Free Our Hearts by Paula Mitchell
Lord Teach Us to Pray: Breath Prayer by Lynne Baab
And the posts on prayer that I have added over the summer as I reflected on this series:
Thank You Lord For Hearing Me.
In Faith and Confidence I Breathe Freely
Let Us Desire Nothing But God – A Prayer by St Francis of Assisi
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