Thursday, December 8, 2011

Gratitude

And so it continues...there are always things I could let distract me from light and truth and God's love. Fear is one of those things. I am a person who struggles with fear. I'm not afraid of people. I'm not afraid of standing up for what I think or believe. But I have little fears that plague me sometimes. They are intended to distract me and they do. They preoccupy my thoughts. They snowball. They pop up whenever I have happy moments. Honestly, it's annoying.

I wish there were a way to rid myself of these fears completely. I wish I could just snap my fingers and *poof* they would disappear. The only ways I've found to really battle fear are to focus on God and to be thankful. So I'm doing that right now.

I'm going to tell you about my blessings.

1. Family. I have a great family made up of wonderful people. I know that I'm supported in love and in prayer.
2. Friends. I have so many people in my life whom I can consider friends. Not everyone can say that.
3. First world problems. Most of my so-called "problems" are what the ladies who write Rants from Mommyland would call "first world problems". Here's their hilarious blog post on that topic: http://www.rantsfrommommyland.com/search?q=first+world+problems I have crises in my life. Don't we all? But aside from the occasional real crisis, the majority of my issues stem from my self-focused human nature and my inability to see my blessings for what they are.
4. Food. I have a friend who says that when she gets really down, sometimes the only thing she can do to battle it is focus on the little things. "I'm thankful for these dishes that I am washing in my kitchen sink. I'm thankful for the soap I have to clean them with. I'm thankful for the fact that I can have food on these dishes whenever I want it there. Etc." So I'm thankful that I have the ability to feed my family and to eat whenever I want to.
5. Fresh starts. I've had plenty of chances to start over--with people, with situations, with locations. Not everyone can say that.
6. Framework. I know that God is setting up the framework in my life. Around it, he's going to put together all the little pieces that seem to be floating, and the end product will look like something. Right now, it doesn't, but it will.
7. Freedom. Living a life without the constraint of "religion" (the bad connotation) is a goal I have. The only way I can do it is with God's help. He has nothing to do with religion, so I don't want to have anything to do with it, either.

That's enough for now. See? I'm already focusing on good things again. I know there are so many positive things going on in my life and I want to choose to keep my eyes on God and what he's doing in me. I hope you choose to do the same.

Psalm 145:8--"The Lord is gracious and compassionate, slow to anger and rich in love."

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