Bucket O' Gratitude

Last year for Christmas my mom gave my sisters and me a cute little plastic jar with post-its attached.  I think she had seen the idea on Pinterest and thought it might be a good way to keep track of things we’re thankful for throughout the year.  I keep mine on my desk where I read my Bible in the morning and as I’m praying, I’ll often look up and be reminded of something I can write down.  I don’t do it every day, but probably one or two a week throughout the year. 

Then yesterday, because of the snow (ahem dusting and cold temps) day, I had a couple of morning meetings get cancelled so, with this bit of extra time on my hands, I decided to go back through my little notes of thankfulness from 2017.  It was such a huge blessing!  I know it’s good to write things down, prayers and blessings, because we’re so prone to forget having things written down gives us the ability to look back and see where God has shown up and answered prayers in the past.  That’s why I journal fairly consistently and I’m pretty sure that’s why there are so many times throughout the scriptures (Deuteronomy 8, Hebrews 11, and all throughout the Psalms) when the authors reflect back on the ways God saved them and was faithful to them.  We tend forget pretty easily when we’re in the throws of busy seasons how good and faithful God is.  Or I do, at least.

On some of the little notes I had written down big things I was thankful for like the one from last January 13 that simply said, “Rachael (my older sister) is expecting again!” Others were for little random things like one from April where I had written down how much fun I had at the farmer’s market that morning with my sister and niece.  On another note from late June I had written, “Got to go to the Nats game with the Kroeze's and Gustavus’s last night!”   There were also several in there thanking God for specific people, like Angela, my mentor and friend who I’ve been meeting with every other week for almost three years now.  She is such an important voice of encouragement and wisdom in my life. 

If we’re constantly looking for the negative things in our lives, we won’t have to look very far.  Life is hard, there’s a lot of uncertainty in our country, and there is always something we can be grumpy about, I am sure.  Depending on the type of person you are, looking for things to be thankful for may be a bit more challenging but it is so worth it to keep some record of God’s faithfulness in our lives!  Let’s face it: if you have the means to be reading this post, you have a whole lot to be grateful for in your life.  So whether you start your own thankful jar or just have a notebook where you write down three things your thankful for each night before you go to bed, let me encourage you to practice this habit of thankfulness.  As Psalm 100:4 says, “Enter his gates with thanksgiving and his courts with praise; give thanks to him and praise his name.”