Grateful for Gratitude

Look at this! It is a dipladenia that my neighbor gave me back in August, and still blooming even through the cold nights we’ve experienced. I placed it in the sheltered corner to see if it will winter-through. So far so good. I’m grateful for the cheery plant that has become something of a friend, waving at me each time I drive into the garage.

I am grateful for each of you, too, dear readers friends. So often you have boosted me with kind comments and understanding of what I’m trying to say, even when I don’t quite understand myself. Things you have said remain in memory to pop out at an opportune time just when needed.

One of you reminded me sometime back of the wonderful phrase, “soldiering on.” I think that phrase depicts the courage of living. It means deliberately choosing to face a trial in life with a soldier’s good and determined attitude toward victory. The phrase popped out at me recently when I looked at the dipladenia being buffeted by the cold wind, yet blooming on.

The recovery guru Melody Beattie has written: “Say thank you, until you mean it. If you say it long enough, you will believe it.”

I’m able to testify to the truth of that statement. Don’t be discouraged if your heart is battered and you do not at all find anything for which to be grateful. This is where the phrase ‘fake it ’till you make it’ comes in. Find one thing for which to be grateful. One can always be grateful for toilet paper. You know there are places that don’t have such! One thing for which I always give thanks is Kleenex tissues. Once you find one thing for which to be grateful, two or three more will tumble out.

Being grateful and being grateful and being grateful again leads to having a grateful heart, and that is a heart that weathers the cold and still continues to bloom. Don’t worry if sometimes you need a bit of help–maybe the shelter of someone else’s loving heart. God will send that when needed.