Thankful.

"God asks us to give thanks in all things because He knows the feeling of Joy begins in the action of thanksgiving." Ann Voskamp

Thankfulness is one of those things that I wish I wash much better at than I actually am. I want so badly to have a heart full of thanksgiving in every situation that comes my way but so often I am filled with irritation, discouragement, and confusion and I feel like I'm constantly asking the question 'why' instead of looking for ways to be thankful for whatever it is that God wants to teach me. A couple of years ago I read a book by Ann Voskamp called 1,000 Gifts and while reading I was introduced to the idea of a 'Gratitude Journal' - a place where you can keep track of all of the gifts God has given you and reflect on them with thankfulness. At the time I thought this was a great idea, though, apparently not great enough for me to actually start my own gratitude journal because no such journal currently exists. I'd like to change that this Thanksgiving weekend though. I'd like to start recording all of the gifts that God has given me so that I can look back on the in times of irritation, discouragement, and confusion and instead of sitting there asking 'why'? I can be reminded to be grateful.

There's a joy that comes in thankfulness - in realizing that the world doesn't revolve around me and that I don't need to have the answer to everything. So here's to embracing gratitude and all that God has to teaching me about giving thanks. Here's to living a life that desires to be thankful. It's probably going to take a lot of practice and patience with myself but today I am thankful that God is way more patient with me than I am with myself.

What are you thankful for today?