Cultivating Gradtitude

It's the time of year when many of us are intentionally grateful. We reflect  on our many blessings and express our gratitude to God and to one another.

And that is good.

But what if we extended our gratitude and cultivated a grateful heart all year long?

It doesn't matter where we are in life, there is always something to be thankful for. If you're reading this, you can see, and vision is an incredible blessing. You also either own a computer or have access to one either through a family member, a friend, or perhaps a library. That's another blessing.

When my kids were young, as they headed off to bed I always encouraged them to thank God for something. Anything. It didn't matter what they chose to be thankful for, I was instilling in them the habit of gratitude.

It's so easy to take our blessings for granted, and I'm really making an effort to cultivate a heart of gratitude--one that doesn't stop counting all my blessings after the holidays are over. All it takes is the recognition of what we've been given, and to be honest, most of have more to be thankful for than 90% of the people on earth.

So, I'm cultivating gratitude by choosing to be aware of and thankful for my family, material blessings, and so much more. And I'm inviting you to join me. This Thanksgiving, let's begin the year-long habit of gratitude.

Happy, happy Thanksgiving, sweet friends.