Midweek Meditation: "Gratitude" (Adele Ahlberg Calhoun)

How to we cultivate more gratitude? Perhaps, the following spiritual exercises can help.

1. Begin a gratitude journal by keeping a record of the 'abundances' God has given you. Next to each abundance write what it means to you to have a God who interacts and intervenes in your life. Notice what you have been given that you did not deserve. What you you want to say to God about these things?
2. End every day by saying thank you to God for at least one thing. Then tell God what that one thing meant for you.
3. Write a letter of thanks to someone who has touched your life in the past year, the past month, the past week.
4. Get a current hardship firmly in mind. How do you feel about the hardship? Tell the truth to God. Where is the evidence of God's presence in this hardship? Is there anything you can be thankful for? If you cannot find God in your hardship, spend some time with Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemane. What does he want to tell you?
5. What sorts of things tend to encourage you in thankfulness? Praise songs? Worship? Time spent with friends? Giving and receiving presents? Plan ways of incorporating the things that encourage thankfulness into your life on a regular basis.
6. Hold a thank-you party. Invite the people you want to honor with a thank you.
7. Create a thank-you scrapbook. Besides photos and pictures, write your prayers of thanksgiving.
8. Notice your tendency to make comparisons that result in feelings of dissatisfaction or entitlement. Practice abstaining from comparative statements about what you don't have. Instead give thanks for what you do have.

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Thank You Project - Story of Kellie Haddock's Attempt to Give Thanks

This is a powerful short film and testimony about how gratitude can bring out the best of people. Kellie Haddock reflects back on the joys and tragedies of her life and decides to do the one thing that is within her means. She gave thanks.



One of the most touching moments is when a woman helper shared that she had never been thanked before. It tells us that giving thanks is not simply something that needs to be done, it must be done more often.

This posting from her says it all.

"There is so much heartache in our world right now; so much brokenness. Let us be people of love who share love everywhere we go. #loveneverfails #weartruth This bracelet and other styles available here http://kellies-music-store.myshopify.com/"

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Noticing Life Outside and Inside

This is a wonderful video. Last week I have been reflecting on beauty and the art of noticing. I even wrote an article to express the need to observe more of life. Most of my thoughts were centered on noticing life outside. This video makes me notice life INSIDE my heart and its appropriate response: Give Thanks.

"Just by your presence Let your gratefulness overflow into blessing all around you. Then it will really be a good day."

Take your time to watch the video here. Do not rush it. Enjoy it.



Let us not to take life for granted. Let us not to treat any day too mundane or too ordinary. Let us develop eyes to gaze at dimples of perfection, not stare at faces looking for pimples of imperfection. Let us grow ears to listen to people for who they really are, and not hearing in order to find loopholes in their arguments. Let us taste the beauty of relationships, instead of leaving it alone, only to pick them up when we find a use for it.

Appreciate life. Cherish people. More importantly, respond by cultivating an attitude of gratefulness. With a heart of thanksgiving, we can make this world a better place, a more beautiful place. The ABCs of stewardship is essentially to increase our level ATTENTIVENESS, the appreciation of BEAUTY, and the cultivation of CREATIVITY.

conrade