grateful

Can I first admit to you that I never dreamed the traction Monday’s post about Hair Dye, Botox and Lip Filler would generate?! You ladies are enthusiastic about staving off the wrinkles, gray hair and deflated lips. haha
But seriously, it was fun to read all the comments posted on FaceBook about who does what, etc. I’m not quite brave enough to do anything besides coloring my hair but you bet I’ll share here when I do!

So, today is Wednesday and while I don’t have really anything earth-shattering to share, I did want to encourage you to think on something or someone for which you are grateful today. Andrew and I have tried {sometimes we forget} to ask our kids at the dinner table each night to tell us either something that they’re grateful for or something good that happened to them, that day.

Kids are funny. Sometimes they squinch their noses and “uhhhhhh” for about an eternity, but finally they’ll give up an answer. And that answer usually sparks some sort of good/funny/interesting conversation at the table. It’s also something besides that blah question, “How was school today?”

I invite you to use this tonight, wherever you are and even if you don’t have anyone to say it out-loud to – I’m happy to listen! – acknowledge something you’re thankful for, or something good that happened to you today.

I’ll start by saying I’m thankful for my friend Sheri AND the good thing is that I got to see her for the first time today since February! We met for a walk this afternoon and got to start our catch-up conversation. She noted that we’re only about 1/3 of the way through our catch-up when we got back to our cars….there’s so much to talk about! Hopefully we won’t have to wait so long to have the rest of our catch-up conversation 🙂

Enjoy sharing your grateful and good thing moments tonight!

Until next time…

Gratitude is the opposite of complaining.

We often complain about our spouses, kids, co-workers, friends…the weather..and the list goes on.

Instead of complaining, why not look for the reason to be thankful?

Name ONE thing. ONE.THING:

What are you thankful for regarding your spouse?

I’ll go: I am thankful that Andrew is a very present and sacrificial father.

And really, I could go on and on and on….about that one.

One thing about your kids.

I am thankful that Reynolds is a loving and sweet big brother to his little sister.

I am thankful that Eliza Jane already seems to have a gentle and quiet spirit.

Your co-worker that might drive you insanely crazy.

Um…I might give that person away! No, kidding. I am thankful that he/she understands the importance of our work and desires for everyone to succeed.

The weather?

Ok, so it’s hot. It desperately needs to rain. BUT, at least it’s not sleeting. {That may have been a stretch, but honestly, we southerners don’t do well with sleet…}

So….in those moments where you are about to complain about someone or something, bite your tongue and say something positive!!

It’s hard. I know it is!!! And I bet if we all made a conscious effort to count the number of times we complain about something, we’d sadly be astonished!

Tomorrow, tonight even, when you’re about to say that thing to that person, that would not be uplifting in any way….stop and think about how you can reword it so that it’s positive and comes from a grateful heart.