What does really being thankful mean?

What has this tough economy taught you?  Has it revealed your lack or your wealth?

Every day we are given blessings that we either appreciate or take for granted.  So many of us forget the simple things in life that we can and should be grateful for.  Why is it that we focus on the negative circumstances?  Life is not working out the way we planned.  We do not have the home we want, the car we want, or the job we want.  The blessings we receive are jewels, which can make up a rich and impactful life if they are safeguarded.

Recently, my wife shared a few of the things she is thankful for:

• Cool morning breezes
• Patriots who stand for my country
• The song she played, just for me, opening her heart-window so I could peek inside and see hope
• Ancient Promises with no expiration date
• Having to tell Drummer Boy three times that it's too late for the loud music that spills out of him--it just keeps spilling :)
• Catching up with Mom & Daddy, sharing coffee a country apart
• 50 years of the most beautiful marriage I've ever seen & for Mom & Daddy who did it with You in the middle
• Mom's stories of "their" wild horses, jumping fences and galloping across the hills of home

They are very simple experiences that warm her heart and spirit and take her to a place that the negative circumstances cannot touch.  Expressing gratitude and thankfulness takes your mind to a place of possibility.

I know it can be very difficult at times to express thanksgiving for the things we have in our lives.  Most focus on the one bad thing in their life and forget the 10 good things for which they should be thankful.

My wife shared with me what someone said to her.  The person expressed her thankfulness for all the bad things that did not happen that could have happened to her that day.  Now that’s perspective.  At my last speaking engagement several of the attendees talked about worrying about bad things that could happen.  The question should be what if they don’t happen?

Think about all of the things you have to be thankful for and write them down.  Read them often and continue to add to them.  Expressing thankfulness will transform your thinking about life and those whom you care about.