Practicing Thankfulness

It’s hard to believe that the last time I wrote for this blog was almost a month ago! Time moves so quickly…especially with a little one walking. I’ve now been practicing thankfulness for almost a month. I was inspired by the book One Thousand Gifts, as I wrote in the last post. I’ve been writing down things I am thankful for each day…and I’ve been especially looking for joy in the small things. I’d say practicing thankfulness has definitely made me more joyful. Not that I wasn’t happy or filled with joy before…it is like extra joy.

Before, I would have just let so many moments pass by unnoticed. For example, #17: the sound of dinner sizzling in the pan, or #31: Candle flames dancing in the sanctuary at church, or #118: sunlight so bright it hurts my eyes. Stopping to be thankful for the joy these things bring really does make a difference. Sometimes it makes me feel almost giddy.

Then there’s the hard thankfulness. I’ve found that practicing thankfulness has helped my overall attitude as well. One night I was woken in the middle of the night be my son crying. I was grumbling to myself and feeling sorry for myself. Who really wants to get out of bed in the middle of the night? But as I was holding and rocking my son, and felt his breathing slow, and the soft wispy curls of his hair against my neck, I reminded myself to practice being thankful. I started with being thankful for the curly wisps and the steady heartbeat and the soft skin. But then #132 came along: Comforting my son in the middle of the night. My whole perspective changed when I became thankful for the hard, unpleasant middle of the night moment. I had a stolen hug. A stolen moment to be with my son. How many of those will I get? Pretty soon I’ll be thinking that there are far too few. I truly felt thankful and joyful at being able to comfort my son. It helped me turn a negative moment into a positive one.

I’m far from 1000 gifts, and I slowed down at writing them in my notebook over the week surrounding Christmas, but now I’m back at it. Here are a few of my favorites so far:

#53: The sting of fresh air on my cheek

#78: Singing “Old McDonald”

#96: Toes touching under the covers

#127: Tears of gratitude in an old man’s eyes

#133: Bright colors

#137: The softness of flower petals

#142: His smile