14,000 Reasons to be Happy....and How That Translates into a Heart of Thankfulness...

Years and years ago, in my youth,

along with my Bible I had a little chunky white book 

that I would read every night. 

It was called

14,000 Things to be Happy About

you can get this at Amazon.com

and on every single page was something that the author had written about that were things she felt inspired by in her day. Some days it would be just one, other days it would be ten or more, depending on her experiences,and such. 

She wanted to remember what was precious about each day,

 and have that to look back on in a different time in her life.

At the point in time in my life that I was starting to read this book, I was really needing an escape from everyday life. I was young, alone, broken-hearted, estranged from family and friends, closed off to the world, working a cruddy job, and pretty much at the bottom of a pit I had dug for myself.

If you have never been in that particular spot, then you will not truly understand what it is to be redeemed from the pit, as the Psalms talk about, or about being stuck in the miry clay, but the Lord pulls you out.

However, I digress with that point.

This book made me think of happier things than my own world and the mess I had created in it.

It made me think of beaches, and warm sand....

fuzzy socks and hot cocoa, 

valentines and love letters,

fuzzy kittens and big slobbery dogs that thought they were lap dogs.

Single words, listed on a page, that had the power to take me into a different place, with different surroundings, or sometimes, just make me sit back and think about happier times and reminisce.

I have been thinking about that book a lot lately, because I really think it had a foundational effect on my life 

when I paired it with Scripture.

Why?

Well, because it made me sensitive to the things that are both little and big in my life, the things that are pure, beautiful blessings from the Lord straight to my heart. 

We miss so many of those, you see, because we are too busy running errands to see the sunset, or the crumb hanging just so outside our toddlers adorable mouth as they snore in the backseat.

We miss the smell of hair freshly washed from the bath as we are trying to get crazy children lotioned, changed, and tucked into bed, so we can go get things done that have been put off all day.

We miss seeing the stars in all their beauty, lighting up the deep night sky on a crisp cool night because we are inside plugged into the same TV show we watched last week.

But when we can set the busyness aside for the moment...

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when we can just let all our priorities slide for 5 minutes for a single day,

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and begin to keep a one-word list of the beautiful things we noticed in our day,

suddenly, the whole world opens up,

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and we begin to see things we have never noticed before.

So as we start this sweet countdown into one of the very best holidays we are blessed to celebrate in America, a time set aside for giving THANKS for the many blessings we find in our lives, will you join me in the challenge to write your list each day as I write mine? I am also having my kids write theirs, and starting today, we are filling a quart jar with our slips of paper, and calling it our "Thankfulness Jar".

We plan on opening it when family is here for the holiday and reading through all of them.

I am looking for one word answers, from a single word posted to a couple, or as many as you collect. I will start us out, by listing my few things to jump start your lists. Be as specific as you can, please.

Here are mine:

Solitude

Cream

Curls

Laughter

Empathy

Friends

Mocha

~~~

What are yours?

Many Blessings to you and yours,

Heather

linked up at: Encourage One Another Wednesdays