Thursday, May 8, 2014

Thankful Thursday

I realized recently that I've been too casual about thankfulness in my life. I say I'm thankful for a lot of things (and I am, really!), but I don't let that thankfulness manifest in my everyday life. For example: I say I'm thankful for our home and where we live, but I complain about the traffic or the single-paned windows that never seem to keep the heat in or out  (depending on what we need at the moment). Instead, if I'm truly grateful, I can look outside my window as I am now, and appreciate the lush green of the trees right outside, and the quiet of the breeze blowing and the birds singing. I can go for a walk through our beautiful neighbourhood and think, "this, this is a great place for us right now, and I'm thankful for it", even if it means I'll be stuck in Bay Area traffic this weekend at some point.

Is thankfulness really thankfulness, if you don't stop to consider what it means, and just say that you're thankful for it? If I said I was grateful for a roof over my head and a full belly, but just superficially consider it to be true and don't actually absorb what that means or feel how truly grateful I am for those things...am I really appreciating those blessings? I don't think so.

So this week, I'm keeping it simple, and saying and meaning these 5 things that I truly, sincerely, am profoundly thankful for each day. My goal is to really feel how grateful I am for these things, so that I don't let complacency rob me of the true joy I should and can feel at all of these blessings.

1. I'm thankful for my relationship with the God of the universe, and His relentless pursuit of my heart.
2. I'm thankful for my true media naranja, my husband. He is my world.
3. I'm thankful for our time in the Bay Area, even as it comes to a close. I have learned so much while living here, and have truly enjoyed so much of it.
4. I'm thankful for my job. I hope I don't take for granted just how lucky I am to have a job that I love.
5. I'm thankful for my families, and truly appreciate how blessed we are to have godly, loving families on both sides of our little sub-family :)

What are you thankful for?

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