My good friend in words says this in his book, Great Day Every Day,
“Gratitude is always an option.”
During this season of Thanksgiving and Advent when we look forward to Christ’s first coming sometimes gratitude is a very slippery customer, yet Max Lucado suggests we make it our default emotion.
Consider this from management consultant Robert Updegraff:
“You ought to be glad for the troubles in your job because they provide about half your income. If it were not for the things that go wrong, the difficult people with whom you deal and the problems of your working day, someone could be found to handle your job for half of what you are being paid. So start looking for more troubles. Learn to handle them cheerfully and with good judgment, as opportunities rather than irritations, and you will find yourself getting ahead at a surprising rate. For there are plenty of big jobs waiting for people who are not afraid of troubles.” (The Balanced Life: Achieving Success in Work and Love, Alan Loy McGinnis)
How would your ordinary, troublesome day look if you thanked God for everything that came along whether it made your life easy or downright frustrating?
Imagine thanking God for all your problems, the stumbling blocks, the pitfalls the twisty ways along the straight and narrow.
Initially it may be difficult, rather like smiling at your two year old screamer, or blessing the person in front of you at the grocery checkout who is fumbling for coupons and quibbling about prices, or buying a coffee for your boss when she seems to be ignoring all the good work you do when she isn’t looking!
Think of the interior strength you will build when you shine your light amidst adversity.
Enjoy the journey you will take with God as together you blaze the trail of gratitude.
When you recognize your worth as a Child of the King you will find yourself released from the chains holding you to Resentment and Complaint and you may even find yourself looking for those hard to manage moments in order to serve others…
…as well as yourself.
Gratitude just may be my word for 2015.
What about yours?
Well hello there! My name is Vivienne McNeny.
I am an empty nester exploring life as a Boomer…you could say I'm happily Boomering along!
As a homeschooling Mum I have finally quit the job of role model and mentor to my four children. I do what I want to do, eat when I feel like it, enjoy life with my blue eyed cowboy and clean my house once a month or so whether it needs it or not!
In true English form I write about the emergence of my true identity now that I can no longer hide behind my children as their Mum.
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