An exercise in thankfulness

It's not difficult to understand that we should be thankful for what we have. That we should "count our blessings." Gratitude is the language of contentedness, acceptance, clarity. It's even easier; however, to get get caught up in the busy-ness of life and forget to be thankful for the little things that have no less significance than the larger ones. I have been recently challenged to take the time to practice the art of thankfulness. I'm not really interested in debating the theology of where that challenge came from here. And, it's not because I don't love theology and a good theological discussion. It's more because there is a time and place for everything and (if you've ever read this blog you already know) that this place is for the light-hearted side of my life and those of my family. Like today when I remembered to say to the boys, "Thank you for having good behavior at the school uniform store. I know we were there for a really long time." To which they replied cheerfully, "You're welcome!" And didn't even act like they should get anything because of it. Because on a different day, all that could just as easily go a number of different and less savory ways. And I would be challenged to be thankful for those moments as well. I have decided to take pictures of those "little" things that I'm thankful for and chronicle them here. For my kids to see later. That's why I needed to explain a little about what I'm doing. Will there be a thousand? I hope so. That will take me a long time because I don't want to force it. Will some of it be things that are difficult to give thanks for? Probably. So here's number one:

Summertime Breakfast. By myself, on the back deck, under the shade of my umbrella (b/c good gracious it is HOT!!,) with a book to read...thankful, thankful, thankful. Praise God from whom all blessings flow. And also, I haven't used blogspot in a while and it is different. I don't know why the whole thing shows up as one paragraph because that's not how I wrote it. :(