During our visit home for Memorial Day, my dad asked me about this space here. I had just launched the blog (which sounds so official) and he knew how much work had been involved in building the site.
Plus, he’s my dad so he’d been reading for almost a decade about being grateful. It’s not like I was doing something incredibly new. Just a new location. With better pictures.
“What exactly is your goal with the blog?”
Such a loaded question! Right?!?! Anyone else feel their heart start racing when a parent asks them a direct question?
Well.
There are lots of goals. I’ve been dreaming about this space for literally years.
So yeah, I have goals.
Some are personal, some are professional, some are spiritual.
Some involve purchasing this gorgeous aqua quilt I found at a local antique store.
Because PICTURES, y’all. So you will have more pretty things to look at. I am always thinking of you.
But at the heart of all my goals (except maybe the quilt) is this:
Share the Transformative Power of Gratitude.
And not in a let’s-put-it-on-a-tee-shirt kinda way. Or a buy-a-picture-at-Hobby-Lobby-to-put-out-during-Fall way. Not in a flippant, easy-breezy, “THANKFUL, GRATEFUL, and BLESSED” way.
No. In a Jesus will change your entire LIFE through gratitude way.
I want to tell the whole world, the ends of the earth, y’all, about how we can start by being grateful for something and then everything and then Just. One. Thing. About how gratitude is the antidote to almost every poison in our lives. About how building grateful nests rooted in Him changes our lives, the lives of our family, and creates a lasting legacy of faith.
So the goal of this blog? To teach anyone who reads the words here how to do just that.
Including me.
But a goal is a just a target we aim to hit and without a plan, we likely won’t hit anywhere close to it. To hit the target, we need an action plan.
A Builder Action Plan.
(High five to corporate America for teaching me about an action plan. Because nothing in my English degree did.)
I could write here for years and never really teach anyone other than my closest friends and family. Asking for a goal is good. A first step. But the real question is HOW to reach our goal?
How do I reach people to teach?
How do I share the message God has given me?
How do I find the women struggling to fill their nests?
How to I find the women who want to build their nests rooted in Christ?
And the answer to HOW?
Y’all.
WE are the answer.
My ultimate dream for this blog, this space?
To gather a community of “Builders” dedicated to living their lives “rooted in Christ and overflowing with thankfulness.”
I see a community of women (and their men) coming together to love, support, encourage, cheer one another on as we learn how to live gratefully rooted in Christ.
And I can shout this message until I lose my voice but as long as I do it alone, I can only reach the people sitting closest to me.
Two are better than one because they have a good return for their labor: if either of them falls down, one can help the other up. ~Ecclesiastes 4:9
We need each other. We need community. We need people.
The people sitting closest to me? They can turn and teach the people sitting behind them who can then turn and teach the people behind them.
Until one day, we’ve reached the ends of the earth.
“Unless the Lord builds the house, the builders labor in vain.” ~Psalm 127:1
I build nothing. God builds. And I’m not interested in building a nest rooted in ME. This space was never created for me. It was built on Christ and that is exactly where it needs to be. And truthfully, I’m not interested in trying. I kinda already did that and it was lonely and unfulfilling. God has so clearly given me this message of gratitude and I have been sharing it with the people closest to me for years.
But, heavens, the miracle is, He invites us to join Him in the building, in the sharing of His message.
And so, I’m inviting you to help me. To help share gratitude with your people. To begin gathering together our community of “Builders.”
I’m asking you, my people, to turn around and share this message with your people. The people behind you sitting in the crowd. The ones who can’t hear this message because it’s just one click too far away to hear.
In case you’re keeping track, this will complete steps one, two, and three of the Builder Action Plan.
- Create new blog
- Share blog with my world (those sitting closest to me)
- Call to action: Readers share blog (those sitting closest to them)
The rest of the steps lead to CHANGE THE WORLD. And include a Facebook group, tee shirts, and yes, the purchase of that aqua quilt.
The story of Christ and gratitude transforms and, simply, I want His message in the news feeds and inboxes of everyone in the entire world. To the ends of the earth, y’all.
I am not above bribery to reach that goal.
I have no shame here.
I’ve got an offer for you and anyone else who joins our community of Builders by subscribing.
Back in 2008 when I started my first blog (aka The Dark Ages), I read two bloggers regularly. Big Mama and Boo Mama. Since then, they have both written a number of books, all of them treasures.
Melanie Shankles’ book, Sparkly Green Earings, and Sophie Hudson’s Giddy Up, Eunice are two of my favorite books of ALL TIME. Both had me laughing and crying, often in the same chapter. I read Eunice on our way home this past Christmas and the number of times I had to put it down to wipe my tears? Infinity.
True story: Sophie Hudson is the proud owner of the only fan mail I have ever sent in my entire life. And she responded to it! We had a lively banter about crystal punch bowls. (Which looked a lot like her responding to my message and me being too stunned to respond.) (But we did mention crystal punch bowls in both messages.)
Okay, okay, yes, I do have a point. I’m giving away these two books to one of my subscribers!
Yay for free stuff!
All new and old (by a whole month) subscribers will be put into a hat and if I can properly bribe my children, they will draw a winner out of said hat (or crystal punch bowl) on a FaceBook live event. I’ll contact the winner via email or text or FB message. And then get these jewels shipped directly to their door!
Or bring it to our next playdate!
Depending on location.
Builders, I would be eternally grateful if you would share this blog. Share a favorite post. Share this post and invite people to subscribe. Share the Subscriber page. YOU DO YOU.
(But please do the version of you that shares.)
Instagram, Facebook, Twiter, even Pinterest. I have several posts pinned already and that link will take you to my Nest Building board.
All new subscribers still get my welcome email with the adorable printables of our blog life verse (I’ve made that a thing). PLUS, then they will get a weekly email from me with a little more personal information about our little nest and the work God is doing in building our life.
That’s all besides maybe, possibly getting two new books to read.
Although let’s be honest, my adorable kids pulling names out of a crystal punch bowl on Facebook Live is WORTH THE SUBSCRIPTION.
Can we even begin to imagine how excited Skillet will be? Heavens.
Go HERE to become a subscriber and be entered into the book giveaway.
The giveaway is open from right THIS MINUTE through Thursday morning, June 22, 2017, at 8 am CDT. And because lawyers, this is open to US residents only (sorry Canada), 18 years or older, no purchase necessary, and this is actually me giving away books from my actual bookshelf for which I paid actual cash money. No sponsor here.
Will you join me in this? Will you help to gather Builders together for a new community? A community seeking to build grateful nests rooted in Him?
I promise the building will be worth it.