Since I read One Thousand Gifts and started writing a list of a thousand thank yous, I keep coming across other people mentioning or elaborating on the art of gratitude. It is always true that when you come upon something once, you hear it mentioned again three times soon after. Your ears are more open to hear it, maybe. Obviously Ann Voskamp's theme of gratitude changing everything and being the key to joy, is not a new one, although her book is amazing and does seem to have triggered a new "movement of gratitude" among many. (She was listed recently in Christianity Today as one of the fifty most influential women presently in North America.)
But the theme goes back all the way to... Jesus himself.
You can always of course go back to the ancient chorus, "Count your blessings, name them one by one..."
More personally, my friend Abby mentioned in a recent post entitled "Grateful", a quote from George Herbert:
“Thou that hast given so much to me give me one thing more, a grateful heart: not thankful when it pleaseth me, as if Thy blessings had spare days, but such a heart whose pulse may be Thy praise.”
A heart whose pulse may be Thy praise. Am I getting there?? I would love to be there.
I read in Maryjane's blog that the Women's Fellowship in Mukono recently had an evening on gratitude.
Another friend put this quote on facebook:
"Gratitude unlocks the fullness of life. It turns what we have into enough, and more. It turns denial into acceptance, chaos to order, confusion to clarity. It can turn a meal into a feast, a house into a home, a stranger into a friend. Gratitude makes sense of our past, brings peace for today, and creates a vision for tomorrow."-- Melody Beattie
Then someone else whose blog I read, Simon Guillebaud, who works in Burundi, blogged recently on "Grateful to be Hungry" - explaining that he was thankful to be well enough to make a fast, which he hasn't been able to do for a while. He went on to list eleven things he is also grateful for and ended with the words,
"Oh, the list could go on, but just writing those few ones down makes me feel even more grateful. Give it a go!"
I am on number 173 of my list, and I enjoy writing it and also looking back at what I've written. Abby and Alex keep wanting to look at it, and today Alex asked if he could make his own list!
These are a couple of the things I have listed recently:
- SO thankful that our house in Longford narrowly escaped flooding last week - the water lapped on the other side of the road...
- Playing Scrabble tonight with Alex! (He was really good and didn't need help. Help!)
- A fun evening making chilli jam with friends
- Our warm winter duvet
- Abby and Alex having friends who invite them to fun things like football matches and the ski slope.
Well, you probably don't want to read all 173!! But, I am grateful for all the good things in our lives.....
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