Posted by Dena on November 27, 2005, at 12:18:14
Hey All Y'all!
Here in the States (assuming some of y'all are in other places), we just celebrated Thanksgiving... and most of us are grateful that the turkey-dinner-leftovers are now dwindling, and we can eat SOMETHING ELSE!!! ;)
However, seriously, I'm focusing lately on developing an "attitude of gratitude", rather than focusing on the negative (which we all experience)... instead, I'm CHOOSING (which is sometimes hard) to focus on the blessings in my life... the good stuff (& if I believe God, then I have to realize that everything that happens in my life is meant to work together for my good... and so I can choose to be grateful, even if I don't like it, or understand it).
Anywho, I wanted to start a thread that allows us each to list, or expound upon, what we're grateful for... no pressure. Nobody feel coerced here... I just know that when I choose to look for the good, it transforms me, lifts me up out of my mundane, painful, or difficult circumstances, and gives me a more positive, perhaps eternal, perspective on it all.
Here goes...
What I'm grateful for:
My life -- beats the alternative.
My husband -- who stook (stuck? sticked?) with me when I was a WRETCH for all those years, and with whom I'm now very much in love!
My children -- who God lured me into having, because they're so "cute and collectible" (though they refuse to stay on that display shelf!), and that's why I have so many! Seriously, they're amazing people, filled with so much potential, and I'm grateful to know them, and to keep enjoying them forever!
My extended family -- whom I now live near again, after 21 years of "east coast exile"
My new home - gorgeous Victorian house that I get to use as my "blank canvas" to express my creativity!
My health -- I "should" be dead or institutionalized, due to the poor choices I made earlier in life, and yet I'm vibrantly alive and healthy!
My dear, "old" friends -- with whom I can keep in touch (which also makes me grateful for the Internet)
My new friends -- who God is bringing into my life in a beautiful way
Sunshine!!! -- it's actually SUNNY again - In OREGON!!! LOL!
My new hometown -- small and friendly, full of activity, connectivity, community
Our new (& yet very old) concept of "Church" -- no longer a place to "go", but a people to "BE"
This world -- the beauty of God's creation all around me
My dining room -- (silly, I know, but it was horrid, and now, having painted it, it's GORGEOUS!)
And, most of all... God -- for His love, His mercy, His compassion, His leading, His fellowship, His intimacy, & the fact that He really LIKES me!Next...?
Shalom, Dena
poster:Dena
thread:582681
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/faith/20051105/msgs/582681.html