Welcome to The Thankfulness Challenge! A few years ago I participated in a weekly blog meet-up called Thankful Thursday centered around thankfulness. The host later opted to no longer host it, and I wrote for a short time about Thankfulness and what i am thankful for, but then I too let it fall by the wayside. However this past year as I prayed through what was important to my blogs re-boot..THANKFULNESS became a HUGE priority.
Thankfulness is easy when it’s the good stuff…Sunny days, rainbows, new pets, birthdays and school concerts (just to name a few) and somedays it is all we have…or at least that’s how we feel! But the Bible tells us to be THANKFUL IN ALL CIRCUMSTANCES (i Thessalonians 5:18) In all honesty THAT IS SUPER HARD.
I once read a book that referred to what the author called “PollyAnna syndrome”, which is finding the good in all things. The Christian author used it in a negative light however, Pollyanna Had the right idea. It’s actually a Biblical principle. So that is what this post is all about. Or t least I’m going to try. Each week we will share our 5 things we are most thankful for!. Some might be simple things but I want to encourage you to go deeper…look for the good in hard things too. It will change how you view your world.
So let’s begin….
- I am thankful for sunshine…..and warmth. Yep I know I started off with simple….but wait I will go deeper 🙂 As a person who lives in upstate NY, most of our months are cloudy, and we spend half of the year FREEZING! I also have a touch of seasonal effect disorder so it compounds the problem of dreary- constantly. We are heading into a week long stretch of SUN and mostly sun. It always makes me feel like I am being rejuvenated!!
- I am thankful for Dentists who know how to fix broken teeth…Yep you read that right. A few weeks ago there was some playing around…FUN -GIGGLES- PLAYING…then BAM in one split second two teeth broken….I felt Horrible. On Monday this week His teeth were fixed. The look normal. There was a day in time where they would have been pulled and forever be missing his two front teeth. (BONUS: I am also thankful we live in 2016)
- I am thankful for NEW adventures. Growing deeper in God’s word is taking me on some new adventures. some of them are very hard. I know though , that at the end of them as long as I have a willing and teachable spirit we will grow into what God has intended all along.
- I am thankful for the ability to write. At college I learned my sophomore year that if I spent 30 minutes writing…not my thoughts, but creatively That I could then focus on my homework. it began a practice of journaling that has since been my way to clear my head. At that time it was a pen and a pencil….and looseleaf paper today it takes all shapes and forms. I am by nature a pen and paper girl and I use LOADS of color, but it also looks a lot like my blog too…and the Pages and Chapters s apps on my laptop and iPad….it also looks like ART! growing my my drawing and painting right in my journal.
- Homeschooling- Im not gonna lie. It has been HARD . But I have grown and So has our son with Autism. and it’s rewarding to watch and grow and thrive. Especially after so many people said. I couldn’t or that I shouldn’t. And to hear my two older children say….”wow he’s in those books, we never made it that far. Those were for the kids who were ahead!”
And so there you have it….What are you thankful for? I’d love to hear!I
