Sunday, November 1, 2009

Gratitude month

Is it November already? I love Thanksgiving - a time for family, food, and remembering all of our blessings (and without all the gift giving that comes along with Christmas). In honor of Thanksgiving, I'm going to try to do a daily post of something I'm thankful for. Some may be serious and some more lighthearted. We'll see how it goes. And please join me, if you want to, in your own gratitude reflections. We have so much to be thankful for!

This talk by Henry B. Eyring is what sparked the idea of gratitude month. This is one of my favorite talks, about looking for ways to recognize the hand of God in our lives AND recording it. So for one month, I'm going to try to do that - and you get to be a part of it.

I thought it was only appropriate that my first post be about just that - I am thankful for a loving Father in Heaven who blesses me in so many ways, even when I don't deserve it. I have a much better understanding of my relationship with Him after becoming a mother, as I know a little more about the parent-child relationship. I can sense the love that He has for me, as one of his daughters, and the desire to succeed, to grow, and reach my highest potential - just as any parent wants for their children. I'm thankful for His watchful hand and also the times when He lets me grow. I could never adequately express my gratitude in words, but I have to try, to give honor to the Lord. Sometimes life gets busy, but hopefully not so much that we forget the Hand that created us and from which all blessings come. I love this quote by Abraham Lincoln :

"We have forgotten the gracious hand which has preserved us in peace and multiplied and enriched and strengthened us, and have vainly imagined in the deceitfulness of our hearts that all these blessings were produced by some superior wisdom and virtue of our own. Intoxicated with unbroken success, we have become too self sufficient to feel the necessity of redeeming and preserving Grace, too proud to pray to the God that made us."

I hope that I can always remember the source of my blessings.

6 comments:

Sharon said...

I do like this idea....I might have to join you on it :)

Debora said...

You may have started something big :) You may get more "takers" than you expected.

Annie said...

I hadn't tried my link - it doesn't take you directly to the page, but it's easy to click on. It's called "O Remember, Remember."

Anonymous said...

What a great idea. I love this season, too!! It is wonderful to take the time to remember all of the things we have been blessed with. Thank you for your words that help us all remember that we have a loving Heavenly Father. He truly wants the best for us and has given us everything.
I loved your Halloween post!! Your boys are so cute! I loved how you had them all dressed up as super-heros. Great idea!! AND, way to go!! You are quite the chili-makin' diva!! Yay, Annie!!

great grandma said...

We need to be thankful ALL the time, but especially now at Thanksgiving time. I heard a widow on the radio early this morning with this same challenge for November and Thanksgiving, so I'll post some thanksgivings with some of her thoughts as well as mine. I also ordered a history book on Thanksgiving that I hope will be interesting for the kids on Thanksgiving Day.

whitney said...

It's so nice to have a month to mentally count our blessings. In today's world, I feel we need it more than ever.

ps-your superheros were just adorable!