Having a thankful heart is my desire. Sometimes life doesn’t go exactly the way I “think” it should go… do YOU ever have days or weeks like that? I have… and so have many of my friends and family members, several of whom I’ve talked with recently about this very thing.
If we’re being honest, we ALL have times in our lives like that. You know… times where you can’t see the forest for the trees…and our focus starts becoming “Out Of Focus”.. I love this quote by Henry Ward Beecher. It inspires me!
At times when life gets a bit out of focus, I hold on to my faith tightly and pray that God will give me eyes to see all the blessings around me that I tend to “forget” when I focus only on the challenges or troubles I am facing. This, in itself, can be a challenge, but I find it extremely helpful to pull back the magnifying glass a bit and take a look at the much bigger picture. It sure helps my perspective, attitude, etc. become much clearer.
I keep a Gratitude journal. It keeps me well-grounded, because it is a great discipline I’ve practiced for years to remind me to open my eyes, take a good, hard look around and realize just how truly blessed my life is. I try to write a few things I am thankful for in it each morning. My entire life I’ve always thought it was important to say “Thank You” to the people in my life who have blessed, inspired, challenged, and loved me. I feel it is just as important to tell the God who made me and blesses me with more than I deserve a big “Thank You” each day I have breath. It’s also encouraging to look back at my journal over time and see a visual reminder of the many ways God has brought me through a tough time OR to be reminded how many things I have to be truly thankful for.
If you don’t already keep a Gratitude Journal, I would humbly suggest you give it a try. You don’t need any fancy “stuff”… Seriously… I just use a spiral bound notebook for my gratitude journal. It’s not what you write it on, it’s what you write on it.
Discipline yourself to list out blessings daily, as they come to mind. Then thank God for bringing them into your life. “Give thanks to the Lord, for He is good; His love endures forever.” (Psalms 107:1) Blessings are all around, if we’ll just take the time to search them out and name them It’s a great way to stay centered, and have a grateful, thankful heart for God’s many blessings. And that, in my humble opinion, is the best blessing to have!
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I’m encouraged to begin again…thank you my friend. Just re-discovered your blog… almost as wonderful as sharing a meal together
Hi, Gini! Thank you so much for your kind words… I miss you! I would LOVE to share a meal with you… any time! {{Hugs}}, JB