Practice Gratitude This Week (and Year 'Round)

annkroeker — Tue, 24 Nov 2009 04:57:26 +0000

"Giving Thanks" photo by Gisela Giardino

Thankfulness.

Gratitude.

This is the week to think about it, talk about it, and best of all, practice it.

But if we limit our gratitude to only one week or one day a year, we’ll miss out on many benefits that are associated with the regular practice of gratitude. I find that I need to not only list the things I’m grateful for but also take time to say “thank You” to our heavenly Father, Whom I believe is the source of all good and perfect gifts.

For a little inspiration, check out the quotes that Diane Eble gathered at her website: “Multiple Benefits of Gratitude.”

And then visit some of the sites that have inspired bloggers all over the ‘Net to list the things for which they are grateful.

One Thousand Gifts

Ann Voskamp launched One Thousand Gifts several years ago and now hosts a regular Gratitude Community.

In this post, Ann V. describes how the process of regularly giving thanks has changed her.

It is happening to me as John Milton wrote: “Gratitude bestows reverence, allowing us to encounter everyday epiphanies, those transcendent moments of awe that change forever how we experience life and the world.”

Everyday epiphanies everywhere, indeed: gifts….Grace.

“… the smell of the florist’s… the sound of kernels of corn streaming, tinkling…. leaves floating in puddles…” Just writing them down as they happen.

Yet my list is different than another’s for a reason: God has made me uniquely me. The Gift List is about gratitude… but it is more. It is about what defines me and my own personal identity. Reflecting on The Thousand Gifts List… “…cracking open a new book… pushing children on the swing…. old men looking at cards in the stationery aisle…” I am thankful for the things on it, yes, but I am also thankful that He has given the gift of me; that God made me who I am and I am one who sees and experiences the world in a way uniquely her own. The Thousand Gifts list is about the gifts Abba gives this child every day… and, ultimately, about the very gift of self, life as I know it.

George MacDonald wrote, “No gift unrecognized as coming from God is at its own best…when in all gifts we find Him, then in Him we shall find all things.”

It is the season of lists. Care to begin a list of a Thousand Gifts? You’ll find Him in all things—the very best gift of all.

Inspired, I actually began my own list back in 2007.

In my post “One Thousand Gifts,” I introduced my readers to Ann V.’s carnival and logged my first entry. It explains the number one thing for which I’m grateful.
I added one more item to the list in this post, “A Gift That Keeps On Giving.”
Well, in the following post I made some progress, making it all the way to #12 in the post “Ten Trite Things for Which I’m Thankful.”
Two more things were buried in a story about a “Germ-Free Thanksgiving” in 2007.
In “Friday Felicities & One Thousand Gifts Cont’d” I enumerated the members of my dear family and made it up to #19.

Then apparently I stopped (publicly). But I intend to pick it up again this week and continue the practice.

Thankful Thursday

Still dating back to 2007 posts in that era, I did manage to think of a few things to be grateful for, which I cited with “Thankful,” though I didn’t count them as part of the thousand. Instead, I tagged another carnival, Thankful Thursday. The hosts encourage participants to jump in any time and not feel obligated to post every week:

Why be thankful on Thursdays? We tend to just give thanks on Thanksgiving; why not share your blessings on a weekly basis with us? You don’t have to participate every week; do it as often as you can. The road of life is hard, let us count our blessings as we travel this road…

“Enter his gates with thanksgiving,

and his courts with praise!

Give thanks to him; bless his name”

~ Psalm 100:4 (NIV)

Friday Felicities

Friday Felicities was a gratitude carnival launched by Nattie Rose, who passed away in 2007. Natalie Rose blogged at “Nattie Writes!” (her Daddy continues). In May 2007, she was still blogging with gratitude even after being diagnosed with the cancer that quickly took her from us in June of that year.

Natalie Rose’s persistent gratitude inspired Becky Perry of Joyful Mother of Boys to continue Friday Felicities.

“What are felicities, you ask?” Becky asks rhetorically. “Why they are things that make you happy!”

And anything that makes a person happy is something to be thankful for!

Thanksgiving Celebration

If you visit High Calling Blogs this week, you can read about L.L. Barkat’s “5 Pies and a Lulav” and then join in our week-long Thanksgiving Celebration:

Would you like to share a Thanksgiving reflection or tradition? Drop your post link here in our comment box and place our special Thanksgiving Celebration badge in your post so others can see what we’re up to. We look forward to your offerings.

Image by: Gisela Giardino. “Giving Thanks,” 23 Nov. 2006. Flickr. Web. 23 Nov. 2009. (All sizes of this photo are available for download under a Creative Commons license.)

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