This is one of the first years in many that I have not done 30 days of thanks. Honestly, I have missed it. Whether I did a photo prompt or wrote it out, it would make me stop and pause and be thankful. This season has brought many things that have kept me so busy I have not had much time to just pause. This morning is the first pause I have had in three weeks. I'm not proud of that fact nor is it how I want to live, sometimes life gets very busy. I always try to take at least a partial day to pause, rejuvenate, and have some margin in my life. However these last three weeks have had little time for that. I am thankful that this morning I did not have a schedule, and was able to go at a slower pace, and get some photo time.
Giving thanks. We live in a culture that is not always terribly appreciative and words of thanks often go unspoken. While thank you is a great thing to hear, having an attitude of thankfulness is what's the most important. Thankfulness and gratitude begin in our heart. While it can be taught, and should be, we are responsible for our own actions, words, decisions and we decide what comes out of our mouth and where we allow our hearts and minds to live. Teaching kids how to live this way is a priceless gift, and it come best by modeling a life like this. Giving thanks should be a daily routine that comes naturally out of a heart of gratefulness. Deep gratitude is not about how much stuff we have that clutters our lives, the house we live in, or the cars we drive. Deep gratitude comes from living a life of joy.
I have had many friends who have been to other countries where people have absolutely nothing and are living out of cardboard boxes or 20 people are living inside what we would consider a small bedroom. My friends tell me that these people have such a deep seeded joy and they live a life grateful to be alive, for the people that surround them, and they laugh and sing often. They have little as far as material possessions go, but their hearts are filled with gratefulness and thanksgiving and their lives reflect that by the way they live.
I have had many friends who have been to other countries where people have absolutely nothing and are living out of cardboard boxes or 20 people are living inside what we would consider a small bedroom. My friends tell me that these people have such a deep seeded joy and they live a life grateful to be alive, for the people that surround them, and they laugh and sing often. They have little as far as material possessions go, but their hearts are filled with gratefulness and thanksgiving and their lives reflect that by the way they live.
Thankfulness doesn't depend on what we have or don't have. Thankfulness and gratitude begin in our heart. It's up to us to tend to her heart, so that we reap a harvest of deep gratefulness. When we tend to our hearts that way, our lives automatically overflow with thanksgiving and we bless those who encounter us on a daily basis. We smile. We say thank you. We are kind. We help someone in need. We do the mundane, and we don't complain. We love those in our lives deeply and cherish and treasure every moment we have to spend together. When we take care of harvesting gratefulness in our heart, living a life of giving thanks becomes a natural part of our being.
So, while I have missed the daily pause to record my 30 days of thanks of social media, I do pause and say thank you to God for my husband, my family, my home, friends, our church family, ministry, daily provisions, my pup, the beauty that surrounds me, the gift of amazing grace that was freely given to me because of Christ, being able to serve others, and the blessings go on and on. I try to tend my heart and keep it focused on the blessings God gives me daily. Yes, I fail and I can complain, but I don't live in that spot. Oh, I could but I refuse to let bitterness take a deep root in my life, as life is a precious gift, and we are made to live it out in a deep state of gratitude.
This Thanksgiving season, give yourself the gift to allow gratitude to fill your heart, and flow out into your life and touch others. You will be blessed.
Please check out my blog circle's posts on Giving Thanks.
What Marty Sees
Captured Bits of Beauty
So, while I have missed the daily pause to record my 30 days of thanks of social media, I do pause and say thank you to God for my husband, my family, my home, friends, our church family, ministry, daily provisions, my pup, the beauty that surrounds me, the gift of amazing grace that was freely given to me because of Christ, being able to serve others, and the blessings go on and on. I try to tend my heart and keep it focused on the blessings God gives me daily. Yes, I fail and I can complain, but I don't live in that spot. Oh, I could but I refuse to let bitterness take a deep root in my life, as life is a precious gift, and we are made to live it out in a deep state of gratitude.
This Thanksgiving season, give yourself the gift to allow gratitude to fill your heart, and flow out into your life and touch others. You will be blessed.
Please check out my blog circle's posts on Giving Thanks.
What Marty Sees
Captured Bits of Beauty
2 comments:
Great post! Great reminders, Connie. Thank you. It’s all in the perspective, isn’t it? There are so many others who are thankful and blessed with much less, so much less. I often wonder what life would look like if we decided to give everything away? I imagine we would be filled with contagious joy.
Years ago I went on a mission trip to Ukraine and it changed my life exactly because of what your friends talked about. They had so much joy! It really made a difference in my life and I have never forgotten that lesson.
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