Heart of Gratefulness

Sometimes I struggle with this. I get wound up in life and get stuck in a rut of feeling entitled. I feel like I'm on the losing end and people and things are not living up to the standards I have created for them. Like my phone for instance. The screen is broken and half the time I try to push a letter to text someone - it enters 5 letters instead. Or it calls someone without me even pushing one button and trying to hit the end button is another story all together. I know this is a silly example but it really does get me all excited and agitated and I feel as though it's just not doing it's job.  I totally forget the part where I should be grateful to have a phone, to have people that I need to text or call, or that I have the ability and the money to get it fixed. There are so many things I need to be grateful for and little silly things are stealing my joy because I'm forgetting to prioritize my focus.

This year Brandon and I set some goals. One is that I want to blog more. I know we make resolutions that half the time we don't keep or we only do for one solid month but it's on the list so I'm going to try. We also have on the list: reading the Bible to our sweet baby boy and praying with him before bed, following a devotional book together, eating and exercising, eliminating some of our debt, giving more, writing and recording some music, and a few others.

Today I'm also going to add gratefulness. It's not a goal that you can measure tangibly. I can't easily check it off day by day to know that I'm actually accomplishing this goal. But this year I want to be someone people turn to for a smile or encouragement because they know that's who I am. I don't want to be a complaining magnet or a stirrer of the pot of frustration. If I'm honest, right now that's where I feel like I am. But I'm going to choose joy and I'm going to choose gratefulness. And this blog will be a part of my accountability. Because this year, as I try once again to get back into blogging, I want to write relevant things that encourage people. I want everything I type to be just be part of the overflowing of a heart of gratefulness.