The morning is cool with a very light breeze rustling the soon to be colorful leaves. Funny how you can actually “feel” a season change even before the real signs of its arrival. There is always that small anticipation from the body itself that looks forward to the new season. This time of year encourages me to look forward to the perfect hot tea and coffee shop moments. Those intimate conversations with friends that enhance the relationship and helps you know them better. Something about a quaint coffee shop makes that possible.
I took this picture last weekend driving down the interstate. I was on my way home from a fabulous weekend stay with my son and grandson. My thoughts were steeped in gratefulness as the sun began to peek above the horizon in front of me. What had started as a tiny light looking over a hill suddenly become a huge ball of fire that pushed all darkness out of the way. A new day had begun.
4 AM found me wide awake and pondering the extreme importance of gratefulness. There is a power to change the trajectory of our lives that accompanies the attitude of gratefulness.
Turning our affections toward those things in our lives which truly matter will catapult us into a place of joy and peace. Joy and peace moves us forward to hope and hope changes to faith. Faith as we know moves the mountain in front of us. It is an amazing process that begins with gratefulness.
Being grateful is simply a choice to be made before your feet hit the floor in the morning or your head rests on the pillow for the night. The morning is a perfect time to announce out loud the things you for which you are grateful. Right before bedtime is also a sweet time to reflect on the day and the NEW things that have presented themselves as grateful opportunities. This undoubtedly puts one in a positive cycle toward their current season.
I know of a man that spent an entire year writing in a “grateful” journal to give his wife on their 40th wedding anniversary. His testimony was one of the most impactful stories I have ever read. Each day he made a mental note of the things she did that he was grateful. His love and appreciation for her deepened to a much higher level. He said the things he had grown to see in her as faults dissipated and her deeper beauty became his total focus. It was certainly an intentional move on his part which raised their quality of life. They are very influential folks and their grateful and blessed lives began to expand on a much wider territory. He explained his attitude toward his wife became reciprocal between them and brought a unity in their marriage that could face any mountain of resistance that entered their path. They spend their days LOOKING for the blessings in the little things of daily life.
I leave you with this encouragement. Human nature will often lend itself to the negative moments. There is certainly enough negative attitudes in the world today. Choose to be someone different starting today. Become a “grateful guru”. Be on the lookout for the things you can jot down in your new GRATEFUL JOURNAL. I predict each day will begin to look brighter than the day before and a new cycle of promise and hope will usher in a brand new season of life. I even challenge you to take it one step further and exercise your faith muscle. Learn to become grateful for those things that have not yet happened! A new expectation will begin to develop that may keep you on the edge of your seat waiting for the arrival of things still unseen. As the sunshine peeks over the mountaintop every single morning, so will your faith, joy, and peace arise each day when you open your eyes. May your days be filled with sunshine.
Enjoy the Journey – VB