Let's all be more grateful

Living Gratefully

Being thankful isn’t just saying a prayer of gratitude on the fourth Thursday of November.  Living every day with gratefulness is a task many of us would have a hard time making a habit of.  It’s too easy to take for granted our material things, getting up every day in a warm house, hot coffee or tea, a closetful of clothing to choose from to wear,  a well-maintained car to get us wherever we need to go, dinner on the table–the list can go on and on.
But what if we lived like we were grateful?

If you thank your children for taking out the trash or keeping their room clean, they will be more apt to continue that kind of behavior, maybe even happily.

Be thankful at work, as hard as it can be sometimes.  Make an effort to voice your appreciation to a few people every day for what they do, whether they do it for you or someone else.

Have you forgotten the little things?  Some things are actually big things: clean water, food in the pantry, a full tank of gas in our car, paid bills every month.  Three-fourths of the world does not live that way.

Don’t think about what you don’t have.  Comparing your life to others’ has become more of a problem with the internet playing such a huge part of our culture.  Stop looking at what others have, and you’ll find more in your own life to be thankful for.
It simply isn’t our nature to rejoice when we lose a job, get sick, or have relationships turn sour.  Sadly, it takes bad things to happen sometimes to make us truly grateful, and when we persevere through those rough spots, well, we are thankful.

When studies show that grateful people have better health, stronger relationships and are more satisfied with life, who wouldn’t want to make every day Thanksgiving? Live gratefully, and you’ll find that you’ll have more for which to be grateful.