I’m practicing thankfulness!  How about you?  It’s a challenge that is gaining popularity, and it is definitely a practice that has value.  Join me on this journey…

I’m grateful for my body! Thankful that I’m taking better care of it – finally. Thankful that it’s serving me WELL even after years of NOT being too kind to it. Thankful for the God who created it – the God who continues to mend and heal and restore this body of mine, as I continue to learn how to better care for it.

I’m grateful for my husband – the honest, hard-working, loving man that he is. I’ve spent the last 44 years loving him, and though I doubt we’ll have another 44 years, I’ll never stop loving him. He’s a good husband, a good dad, and an awesome Papa Mac!

I’m thankful for his new job – grateful that God opened a door for him after several weeks of unexpected unemployment. Grateful for income, slow but steady. Grateful for an optimistic outlook even though the numbers are different – the wages are less – still our hopes and dreams are continuing.

I’m grateful for plans, for trying to get our ducks in a row, after all these years. I could look backward and say we did a lot wrong, but I’d rather look forward and say we’re getting it right now. Thankful for a goal – a carrot at the end of a pole, if you will.

I’m grateful for our family – our kids, their spouses, their kids – our joy! Thankful for the love and memories shared. Thankful I get to see them all fairly often, and spend time with them. I’m grateful for reciprocated love…for the gifts of God they are. I’m grateful for the miracles my own two kids are – true miracles of life! I’m grateful for their spouses who complete them. I’m thankful for years ahead for them – for the ups and downs of marriages which draw one to another. For the lives lived out by their kids – the joy, the pain, the laughter, the moments that go by each day. So much to be thankful for in the lives of my family – true treasures.

I’m grateful for my gifts – my talents – my passions! The gift of words! The gift of lines! The gift of using these words and those lines to CREATE! The gift of encouragement and the opportunities presented to me each day to be an encouragement to others.

I’m grateful for those in my life who challenge me, and my thinking. Those who enrich my life by making me truly THINK and consider. Then, of course, I’m thankful for the BRAIN God gave me in order to be able to think!

I’m thankful for the Bible – God’s Holy Word; the power and relevance of the Bible in today’s life – everyday! I’m thankful for the new insights gained each day. I’m thankful for the opportunity I have to study God’s Word and try to expound upon it to a great group of friends each week. I’m grateful for the way each one of those friends challenges ME, in response. I’m grateful for their candor – their truth – their “real”ness. I’m thankful for our journeys through the scripture, together.

I’m thankful for the friends I’ve met over the years – in various places; the friends that you can just start up with, after all these years, and it’s like you never missed a beat. Good friendships. Great laughs. Good connections. BONDS made years ago that persist! Hearts shared. Thankful for true friends through thick and thin.

I’m thankful for the opportunities I’ve had to travel and live in different states, and meet different types of people.  Thankful to see different cultures (even though, for me, those different cultures are mostly within the confines of the United States — and, yes, there ARE different cultures even in small town America).  I’m thankful for the influences of others on my life.

I’m thankful I was able to travel to Israel in 2008. I’m thankful for all I learned through that experience , thankful for the memories I have – even today – as if it was just yesterday I was around the world! The sights. The smells. The people. The history. The heart-history! The spiritual-history. Thankful for the hunger for the Word – both before, in preparation, and especially afterward. Thankful for the understanding that comes so much more magnified after such an experience. Most thankful, though, for the ‘dream come true’ of the experience which was on my bucket list for over 40 years!

I’m thankful for my ‘bent’ to create. My desire to enrich – to encourage – to enlighten – to inspire! Thankful for my heart to share and ‘better’ the world. For my optimistic outlook, even in the midst of a pessimistic world, sometimes.

I’m thankful for those who challenge my patience. Those who inflict pain, through words and actions, and who give me the opportunity to exercise self-control and restraint. I’m thankful for those who bring me to my knees, so to speak, by what they say or do.  Those who make me shake my head in disbelief. Those who epitomize the person I DON’T want to be. Those who make me strive, more completely, to NOT be that kind of person.

I’m thankful for my love of language, of words, of the written word. Thankful for my love of learning and continual quest to grow and change and learn and become more than I am today.

I’m grateful I live in a country where I can pursue independence and freedom; where I can go from place to place without fear (much, at least) of war or terror or great demise. A country which was founded on good things, and one which – in my opinion (remember, I’m the optimist!) – is headed for better things!

I’m thankful for those who genuinely care about our country and those who are attempting to work together to make it great again. I’m thankful for the enlightenment of many who are seeing the corruption of many – and I’m thankful for the steps being made to change that.

I’m thankful for those who work hard – at whatever their job is – to make life easier for those around them, myself included.  The laborers, the servicemen and women. The law enforcement personnel. The emergency responders – whether firefighters or EMTs. The nurses. The doctors. But also those behind the scenes – the janitors, the dishwashers, the clerks I’m thankful for ALL of those who do whatever it is they do, to be the best at whatever it is. YOU rock this world!