Intentionally Grateful

No one ever said that making time every day to have gratitude would be easy.  Sure, the first few days would be manageable, and saturated with clear-cut positives. Thankful for family, friends, for a job promotion, or a free car wash.  The list can dwindle on.

While being thankful for all of the wonderful things in your life is great (and encouraged), you may catch yourself thinking that you’ll run out of things to be thankful for at some point.  This is where being intentional comes in.

Real gratitude is being thankful and able to recognize the positives in your life, even though they might be masquerading as struggles or tough situations.  Sometimes we realize, after the fact, that a tough situation or conflict we endured is what got us to where we are now.  Sure, we are thankful that it ended, and for the peace it gave us.  But think about this; What if we were intentionally grateful for our day-to-day struggles as they occurred?  How can we constantly find the good in the darkest of things?  We may not understand why we are going through a tough time, or why it’s even “happening to us.”  Ultimately, the struggles we face aren’t “happening to us.”  They’re happening for us.  They’re there to show us our strength and resilience.  We may not be able to control everything, but we can certainly control how we respond.

By definition, the word gratitude means: The quality of being thankful; readiness to show appreciation for, and to return kindness.

Gratitude is not just a feeling.  It’s an action.

While it’s not false, gratitude doesn’t simply mean giving thanks.  It also means constantly processing and being psyched, geared up, and ready to give thanks for whatever comes our way, no matter what.  There’s always a way to find that silver lining, and there’s always a way to see your battles as blessings.

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“I used to believe that prayer changes things, but now I know that prayer changes us, and we change things.” – Mother Teresa

Written by:  Melissa Mead

Author, Writer, and Runner  (And who I am especially grateful for)