Heart of Gratitude

learn the language of gratitude you will never be on speaking terms with happiness. Thanks to Gayle, who sent me this quote a while back. Hooray for Heros! Hooray for Heros is a project to honor the men and women in our military. We chose a unit that is very dear to Cyndi's heart--her son's unit, deployed to 5 bases throughout Afghanistan. Because of your generous donations we have just boxed up our third and largest mailing. This week we will send 7 boxes that the soldiers will receive in time for Christmas. They are filled with necessities: toiletries, food, notebook paper, goodies and LOTS OF LOVE! THANK YOU ALL FOR YOUR DONATIONS TO THIS CAUSE. If you still want to give, you can chip in for postage to mail the boxes. Talk to Elly.

You cannot approach Thanksgiving without thinking about Gratitude. Thankfulness. Praise.   These are things God desires from us. They're part of our faith journey. "Be joyful always; pray continually; give thanks in all circumstances, for this is God's will for you in Christ Jesus."   1 Thessalonians 5:16-18       We may be tempted to think it is impossible to give thanks in all circumstances, especially the bad ones. But isn't it intriguing that God doesn't think that way? His word is clear: In everything give thanks. Or maybe I could paraphrase it: "During every dark day give thanks," or "In the midst of every mess give thanks." Or how about, "In even the worst of situations, God is worthy of our thanksgiving and praise."  That is so foreign to the typical way we think. Everything? Always?   I believe gratitude is learned. It doesn't come naturally to most of us. It is a mindset we choose and it is something we must practice until it becomes second nature to us. The more we practice gratitude the more we experience its powerful effect on our lives.    Something happens inside us when we choose to go through our days and weeks with an attitude of praise and gratitude, no matter what.  Gratitude is the springboard to joy and happiness. Therapist and author, Melody Beattie says:  "Gratitude unlocks the fullness of life.       It turns what we have into enough....and more.  It turns denial into acceptance, chaos to order, confusion to clarity.       It can turn a meal into a feast,            a house into a home, a stranger into a friend." I have noticed something; maybe you have too. There is always a reason to be unhappy. There is always a difficult challenge in front of us. There's always a mountain to climb. There's a glitch in the Matrix, Neo. Gratitude. Thanksgiving. Praise. These are the things that are to be a constant in our lives, drawing us ever closer to our Father's will for us. This holiday season, let's try a new approach. Let's choose not to focus on what is missing from our lives, but on what we are grateful for. Just try it. It's not going to hurt us, and we might find a small seed of new-found joy and happiness bursting up inside.       What do we have to lose?   Greg