. . . Being Thankful

Some lessons I need to keep relearning.

God has often hammered home to me the concepts in Philippians 4:8 -- focusing my attention on the good. For some reason our humanness wants to obsess over the bad, vile, malicious (just look at current news headlines, or pretty much any headline ever). I'm constantly pulling my mind out of the garbage dump and back to the good.

A few years back I read One Thousand Gifts by Ann Voskamp. I love the emphasis on gratitude that book raised in my awareness. It is a habit that needs to be re-instilled now and then. Focusing on the good, and going so far as to write them down can send our thought patterns into some beneficial places.

And, this year the concept of gratitude circled back into my thinking.

How thankful am I for my husband? 

I am sooo thankful. Thankful he works hard, provides for us, lives frugally, is faithful and loving, etc. etc. If you ask, I've got a list.

However, I don't naturally call those things to mind. More often I notice what he doesn't do, compared with my huge list of things I do. {*smirk*}

Really? Didn't I learn that it marriage 101? Family Life's Weekend to Remember explicitly warned against this habit of trying to split things 50/50. We have to go all in. It's, " I do 100%" and "mind-my-own-business-instead-of-worrying-about-what-percent-I-seem-qualified-to-judge-he-is-doing-today."

Not just about a grateful heart.

A truly grateful heart should find its message spoken often through grateful lips. I need to say, "Thank you." I need to be specific. I need to do this often. Daily. Multiple times each day.

It is ridiculously easy to keep in touch in this day and age. We will call, email, text for just about anything that comes to mind - groceries, errands, parenting issues, venting, etc. But, how often do I take that 2 seconds to send a 'thank-you' text? Not often enough.

It can be serious or flirty, when my husband calls or texts something not task related I'm thrilled. Keeps me eager to see him again. I'm looking for more opportunities for that type of communication.

A lesson I'm relearning now, and probably will again in a few more years, and at the same time I can't believe my kids don't have it down consistently.

Don't forget to say, "Thank you."