Gratitude

Many years ago, when I was still in elementary school, there was an episode of Oprah where she featured a gratitude journal. I can remember so clearly watching that episode with my Mom and very shortly after that episode aired I can remember being in the car with her, on our way to the book store to get the gratitude journal that Oprah had featured on the episode (we are seriously a marketing person's dream...if a celebrity we really like uses some super cool product - we usually go out and get it). Somewhere between being in elementary school and growing up and getting married I forgot about the gratitude journal. It wasn't until I had kids and started struggling to make the time to have the kind of devotional time I really desired to have that the whole concept of the gratitude journal came back into my mind. 

The basic premise of the gratitude journal is that, instead of sitting down to write an entire "Dear Diary" type of entry into your journal, you take the time at the end of the day to think of 3-5 things that you are thankful for that day. They can be big deals or little deals, life changing events or things that might seem trivial - but no matter what you take the time to sit down and reflect on your day and stop and be grateful to God for it. I did really well with this habit for a while and I am trying to get back into the habit because I love looking back on my old entries. Even though there are just 3 or 4 things written down each day I feel like when I read them I am instantly transported back to that day. I can see what was happening, see what we were wearing and it almost feels like I can hear our conversations - and I love that feeling. In a stage of life where it feels like life is flying by so fast, I love any kind of habit, craft of activity that makes you feel like you can freeze time for a little bit. Like I said earlier, I also love that the gratitude journal gives you the chance to capture both the big and little things in life. I love looking back at old entires and seeing things like "a positive pregnancy test" and "a card in the mail from a friend" in the same day. If I had sat down to write a "Dear Diary" kind of entry that day I would of written all about how glad, thankful and excited I was to have gotten a positive pregnancy test - and that's great and that should be celebrated. But I probably wouldn't of mentioned that card that I had gotten in the mail from a friend, it might of been forgotten or overlooked in the excitement of a bigger event. But with a gratitude journal you're looking at your day in more of a bullet point mentality - which is not only great if your very busy, or a mom of little ones, or feel like you don't have a lot of time to stop and journal - but it also allows you the chance to look back at your day, change your perspective (if you need to) and not overlook things that meant a lot to you. 
So, if you're up for the challenge - get yourself a notebook or a diary and take the time at the end of each day to pause and thank God for 3-5 things that you are grateful for. And if you're like me, the more you get into the habit of practicing gratitude at the end of each day - the more things you'll find on your list.