From Sundi Jo: This is a guest post by Melissa Mashburn. Melissa is a woman who is passionately pursuing God every day by taking her everyday, ordinary life and placing it as an offering to Him. Married to her best friend for 18 years and proud mama to two teenage boys, her life is full of adventure.You can visit her on Twitter or on her ministry blog, Mel’s World.
photo credit: dreamstimefree
Always giving thanks to God the Father for everything, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. ~ Ephesians 5:20 NIV
Do you start your day with an attitude of gratitude?
Have you taken the time today to thank the One who has given you all the blessings in your life?
I know, I know…it can be something that just “slips our mind”. We have good intentions, but life happens and we forget to stop and thank the Creator for all the abundant blessings in our life.
Oh, you are shaking your head and saying, well, Melissa, you don’t know what my family is dealing with, or you have no idea how hard things are right now, and you know what…you are absolutely right, I don’t know, but He does.
On top of that, I bet that even in the midst of the trials that we are experiencing right now that there are things we can take time to be thankful for in our lives.
We cannot change our past. We cannot change the fact that people act in a certain way. We cannot change the inevitable. The only thing we can do is play on the one string we have, and that is our attitude. -Charles Swindoll
Listen friend, I am not in any way shape of form discounting what you are going through in your life right now. Believe me, I am in the midst of weathering some storms as well, but you see, I am not focused on the storms…I am focused on the One in control of it all.
Yes, there are times when it would be very easy for me to sit back or crawl back into a pit of despair, but I am choosing to wake up everyday with an attitude of gratitude. We have been given so many great and abundant gifts, sometimes it is just a matter of stopping the cycle long enough so we can count our blessings. What better time to start something like that then right now.
Each of us has things in our lives that we are thankful for, but often time take for granted. What if you and I decided to stop taking those things for granted and started showing those we love just how much we appreciate them, starting each day with a prayer of thanksgiving to God the Father.
The best gifts to give: To your friend, loyalty; To your enemy, forgiveness; To your boss, service; To a child, a good example; To your parents, gratitude and devotion; To your mate, love and faithfulness; To all men and women, charity. -Oren Arnold
A great way to start is by getting (or making) a gratitude journal. I cannot think of a better way to count your blessings than by taking the time to write them all down. It is also a great reminder for us to be on the look out each day to seek out the things we have in our lives that are blessings. The gratitude journal may not come easily at first, takes a little time, a lot of prayer and even more practice…but what a great way to start your day!
What step can you take to have an attitude of gratitude today? Comment below…