Written By: Ashley Franks
How can we in life slow things down enough to see God? Our society encourages us to go and do more and to obtain more. How in this mentality can we see God in our lives, in our day? It is easy to get caught up in a schedule of busyness. It easy to let the constant movement and constant requirements of life overshadow where our focus should truly be. How can we find joy when all we see is the not enough of life?
Thanksliving: living a life of thankfulness. When you stop looking at the stress off the day, the stress of what’s left still to do, the stress of what went wrong, and instead look for the small blessings in your life and then THANK GOD for them transformation will occur. Gratitude leads to joy. The joy that can only come from God. While this may sound simple, it really isn’t. If it were more of us would be doing it. Then how do we live a life of “thanksliving”? How do we let this become our daily focus?
I always say, start small. Start with coming up with three things you are thankful for from your day. When I was a young teenager at camp, our cabin counselors required us to tell three things we were thankful for at the end of every day of camp. I remember thinking at the time that this seemed so hard and I even had trouble coming up with three things. Then my fellow campers, dear friends of mine, taught me something that week. They showed me how to be grateful for even the small things in the day. They were thankful for the sunshine, for laughter, for rain, for fun. I started to look at the day differently with this thought. I had always taken these things for granted and never thought to thank God for them. Once I started to look for the little moments in my day, I started to see things completely different. Not only could I come up with things to say thanks for, but my attitude changed as well. I started to look for these little moment all day long. When you focus on the blessing in your day, and yes they are there, the negativism seems to flow away. You begin to experience joy and you start to see God in your day.
This week try coming up with three things you are thankful for at the end of each day. Then take each item and say a prayer of thanks to God for them. It will have an impact on you.