Recently, I took out my journal and jotted down three things. It had been a hard day. I was beyond exhausted, the pressures of both motherhood and writing pushing in on me from all directions. I felt less than accomplished at both roles, as mother and writer. I could have sat with my journal and poured out my heart and soul, allowing salty tears to drip onto the page as I went.
But I didn’t.
Instead, I took five minutes to write down three things I was thankful for:
-Oreo ice cream at Baskin Robbins
-a big hug from my son in the morning
-an especially moving comment on something I had written that had touched someone else
It was a gratitude journal, of sorts.
“Thankfulness is a thread that can bind together all the patchwork squares of our lives.”
These are words from a little snippet on gratitude I keep on my nightstand, a handout the leader of our church’s youth board felt compared to share with the board members, of which I am one.
“Difficult times, happy days, seasons of sickness, hours of bliss – all can be sewn together into something lively with the thread of thankfulness … We make the choices that turn us into bitter or grateful people … It is a discipline to choose to stitch our days together with the thread of gratitude.”
When I wrote down three things I was thankful for, more came to me. I could have kept going. The sun. The green grass. The smell of a freshly mowed lawn. These things can be simple. A hug from someone you adore. The taste of something on your tongue.
God doesn’t shower us with tremendous surprises and gifts every day. But oh, how He constantly works in the little things – the small beauties and precious moments that surround us each day.
And how easily we take those little things for granted, or sometimes fail to notice them at all.
It’s easy to get caught up in our failures, the thousand things a day we don’t accomplish. But if we take the time to look, almost always we can find something – even three somethings – to be thankful for, each and every day.
*What are you thankful for today? If you made a list of three things, what would they be?
katemeadows 