Gratitude

I remember several years ago my mother contacting me for my birthday. As she said those words, ‘Happy birthday,’ to me, my response to her at the time was; ‘Ahh, I don’t want to think about my birthday, I am another year older’. Her reply to that was; ‘You should not say that Deb. The fact that you got up this morning, you are alive and well, and have the opportunity to celebrate another year is something others have not lived to do this year’. She was right. I needed to be grateful that I was gifted another year to fulfill my dreams, make a difference in someone else’s life, turn things around that were upside-down and so much more. I had life. 

What are you grateful for? We can all be grateful for something. Can I encourage you to take time to make a list. You may be surprised at how long that list is. There is power in writing it down, physically seeing it before you. It will lift your spirits and encourage you to not only keep going, but be determined to move forward. 

I love this great reminder which sits in a frame on my office desk: ‘Summing it all up, friends, I’d say you’ll do best by filling your minds and meditating on things true, noble, reputable, authentic, compelling, gracious—the best, not the worst; the beautiful, not the ugly; things to praise, not things to curse. Put into practice what you learned from me, what you heard and saw and realized. Do that, and HE, who makes everything work together, will work you into his most excellent harmonies.’ Philippians 4:8-9