Gratitude Journal

 

Gratitude Journal

 

The Sister Missionaries were over today for craft day, which by the way, I LOVE!!!  Anyway, usually they give me a short message and off they run, but today they did something a bit different.  They made me a Gratitude Journal.  I was so touched by their thoughtfulness and sharing their own gratitude for things in their lives I became aware that I needed to be a bit more grateful for the things I have and to stop taking for granted the people in my life and the things in my life.  By saying 'things' I'm not necessarily talking about materialistic things.  Things like my testimony, the rain, the rainbow and then there are those basic necessities we all need, which is clothes, food, heat, water and air to breath.

 

In my beautiful new little Gratitude Journal each Sister Missionary wrote 3 things they were grateful for about me.  One Sister wrote "Her laugh always brightens my day", that same sister also wrote, "I'm grateful for her candy bowl on days that I'm craving chocolate". 

 

Another Sister from how she loves my creativity and how I can turn anything into something beautiful.  Well, I don't know about that last part, but I like the creativity part.  The last Sister wrote something that really caught me off guard and she said "So Open to share your life experiences with us to teach us by example".

 

Isn't that the truth!  We all learn by example.  We learn from our parents, siblings, friends, actors/actresses, politicians, religious leaders, and many other type of people.  The world is full of examples.  Some are excellent and beautiful and then there are those that are dark, quiet and deeply distant.

 

 

 

So, let me say my three things I'm grateful for today:

 

                   1.  I'm grateful for my children!

                   2.  I'm so grateful for the Sister Missionaries who have crossed paths with me and my craft room.  These young women have taught me so much about life, God and love.  Their selfless service is remarkable and I just love getting to know each of them!

                   3.  I'm grateful for my grandchildren; Cassie, Sophie, Emma and little Gabe!  They keep me alive and young!

 

Finding gratitude brings us out of the "me, me, me, me" stage and more into the "you, you, you, you" place.  Gratitude brings love and light into your world.  Being Grateful for things in your life, the people in it will make you appreciate them even more.  It will open up your eyes to an arena that you've never stepped into before and it will transform you.  I promise, by doing this simple thing every night, it will transform you. 

 

You will see things through cleaner and clearer glasses.  You will love deeper, hold onto things tighter and fight for what's right in your life.  Some day you might just be grateful that you treated yourself to a quarter pounder (that's my weakness).  But, then there will be those days when the dirt hits the pavement and your gut is aching so bad where you will truly see what your grateful for and WHY!

 

Do we really need to know why?  Maybe not, but for me I would like to know why I'm grateful for that person or thing.  That just might help you weed out the thorns in your bushes that you thought you were grateful for, but once you really thought about it you didn't really like them or it.  So, the result is to get rid of it and that can be a totally cleansing process, which will feel so good to dump that garbage off your back. 

 

I've done that, that's why I can talk about it.  It feels so good to get things off your shoulders.  Unnecessary things in your life, or people that don't value you or have any real purpose in your life.  I mean it's nice being cordial to the bank teller, but you don't have to make her your best friend. 

 

Lastly, I can't say this enough.  When you find what your grateful for, you appreciate that person or thing so much more.  You won't want to hurt it, harm it, break it, destroy it or damage it.  You will want to protect it, love it and give it a safe haven in your heart. 

 

So, now that I've shared what I'm grateful for, what are you grateful for?  I challenge each of you to create your own gratitude journal and each day at the end of the day write down three things you are grateful for that you experienced or that you are grateful for.  Good luck on your Gratitude Journal and I hope you take this journey with me.

 

I am Debbie and I was here...