The Thousand Gifts

This morning I woke up feeling frustrated…annoyed…a little disappointed. I hate waking up that way, especially after coming off of a really fun weekend.

The heat in my apartment made me mad. The radio wasn’t playing any good music, so I turned it off in a huff. Someone cut me off driving to work. Traffic was…well, traffic. My back hurts because I slept funny. And even though I feel like I’m trying to make changes…everything just seems to be the same.

Ok. Now that I got that off my chest…

When I got to work this morning, I did a quick run through my google reader while drinking my cup of coffee. And it just so happens that the theme of some of my favorite blogs on this unusually ungrateful morning was…thanksgiving. The first blog entry I read was titled The Treasure of Thrown Away Food written by Lysa Terkeurst at (in)courage. Somehow through the web that is the internet I made my way to an entry from the blog a holy experience titled The Thousand Gifts…and this was probably the fourth blog entry I read that focused on gratitude.

image originally from blackcat1996

Ok. I get it. The message is clear. God is teaching me a lesson…and it’s a reminder that I clearly need. What happened between yesterday and today that made me so ungrateful? I woke up this morning feeling down about everything I don’t have, rather than being grateful for the many gifts I’ve been lucky to receive.

I have a job. I have amazing friends. I have a loving family. God has granted me another day to live on this earth and spend time with the people that I love so much. I don’t want my view of this world to be clouded by ungratefulness for even another minute.

So, with that, I’m going to start my own list of gifts. From here on out, I’m going to add to my list of things I’m thankful for at the end of each blog entry. The goal will be to get to 1,000 gifts...but hopefully by the time I get there the act of gratitude will be so addictive that I won’t want to stop.

I’m thankful for…
1) Being awake and alive on this glorious morning
2) The flowers my sister sent me for my birthday that are still blooming and beautiful after over a week.
3) Going to concerts with my music loving friends
4) Beautiful days at the beach
5) Emails from the renegades

Have a glorious day!

Live Sweetly :)
Rachel