Learning a “gratitude attitude”

What is happening is remarkable.  As I go through my day, something will happen and I’ll think, “Thousand gifts!  I’ve got to write that down!”  Like a bloodhound, I’m on the trail for blessings, and I’m finding them.

Take #44, for instance, which came on a day when She Who Almost Never Gets Sick and Abounds in Health was feeling – well, rotten.  After days of dragging around, I finally gave in and went to see the doctor who, to my surprise, used words like “low-grade fever” and “infection” and “here’s an antibiotic.” 

Off I went to the store to grab the prescription.  There in the deli section (right by the energy drinks, wouldn’t you know it?), I ran into a friend and faithful blog reader that I’d not seen in almost a year.  We hugged each other, laughing, and exchanged encouraging words.  “A gift!” I said to myself.

Number 49 came the other night when I went outside to play Corn Hole with the middles.  As I lay on the ground (LITerally), laughing like a hyena at a crazy shot that went in, I thought, “Thousand gifts.”

Number 23 is the trampoline that Grandpas bought last summer to replace the one that broke.  That was a huge gift.  We’ve jumped together, played Dead Man, and called numerous “runs” on that thing.  The fact that it stayed put during our recent tornado is another gift.

Number 40 was the simple grace of a fresh mocha that day that I was feeling so sick.  (Hey.  There was a Starbucks across the store from the pharmacy.  A la Beth Moore, “I rest in God’s perfect will.”)

Number 31 is the luxury of sleeping in.  Number 17 is a warm cup of coffee as I write beneath the lean-to, listening to the rain.

Those are just a few of my 53.  I think I like cultivating this attitude, this mindset of gratitude.