It's November. Soon we will start to see social media posts flooded with people stating what they are thankful for. It's kind of like the annual "give to the local charity, help out and check my generosity box for the year". I think by taking the month of November and stating something you are thankful for each day can be a good practice, but why limit it to November? When I saw this graphic it jumped right at my heart:
Yikes! Take a moment to really digest that..... what DID you thank God for yesterday? In our world of instant gratification and things often coming so easily to us I know I forget to thank God for things sometimes. But I will say that when I started the simplification journey, about 18 months ago, I became more aware of thankfulness. I am still working on that process, and I may stall for weeks at a time, but when I get back to it my soul is refreshed. I find that fewer 'things' are important to me, and my thankfulness meter goes way up when I am less distracted by material things. It's hard to do that though when so much emphasis is put on what we possess.
I don't fault any of you that will post those "I'm thankful for" comments all month long. I have kept journals and diaries since I was a young girl, and my thankful for comments (along with my gripes, and rants) are recorded regularly. I don't tell you that as if I'm holding up a badge, I only say that because being thankful is a behavior that can be learned. It takes practice and repetition. I think I have shared before that a few years ago when I was in a deep depression I still wrote in my journals, but they were dark and brooding entries. I made myself start a 'joy journal'. I committed to only writing things that I was thankful for in that specific journal. The early entries were things like "I'm thankful for a home with A/C on a hot day", "Plenty of food in our refrigerator", "A washing machine to do our laundry" etc. As I continued day to day to write those things down, things that I basically took for granted, I realized those were things that many people do not have. It didn't take long and my joy journal had longer entries and I was being thankful for many things instead of focusing on my depression. For me, that joy journal helped me to be aware of thankfulness at all times, not just the month of November.
So think about that quote again: What if you woke up today with only the things you thanked God for yesterday?
Psalm 107:1 Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good! His faithful love endures forever. NLT
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