30 Day Gratitude Challenge
Alright, I started my 30 day gratitude challenge yesterday. I plan to write a list of 10 things I’m grateful for each day and I plan to do this for 30 days. This is my personal experiment and I will notate everything in order to observe the effects of gratitude in my personal life. Please join me in this journey and we’ll observe the hand of God in our lives together.
Day 1- I made a list of people I was grateful for. Some of the people in my list were not necessarily friends but my perspective completely changed once I wrote down their names. All of the sudden I saw them in a different light and it reminded me that they’re also created in God’s image and worthy of respect. They’re no longer enemies but gifts in their own way; after all not all gifts are perfectly wrapped with a bow, some arrive in our lives as weather-beaten, dirty packages carelessly tossed by the deliveryman in our front porch. I believe these people are those scary packages we’re afraid to open but now I have the faith to believe they’re gifts nonetheless for which I’m going to choose to be grateful for.
Day 2- Today as I wrote out my list, I remembered one very generous deed an old friend performed for me. She showed me kindness and enthusiasm for something I dearly wanted and it reminded me that, even though, she’s not perfect, she showed me loved in the best way she knew how at the moment. Thank you Jesus.
Day 3 & 4- I’ve had two very busy days with not much time to think about my gratitude lists so I’ve quickly notated everyday blessings such as my job, previous vacations where I was blessed to visit some beautiful places in Italy. Also, God’s mercy and my ability to be able to recognize his hand in my life in this area. I am also grateful for my health and quiet Saturday mornings where I can write posts like this from my porch while enjoying a cool summer breeze. It’s probably nothing earth shattering but I realize it’s the little things and the remembrance of special things like my trip to Italy that allow me to feel loved by God. I’m also notating these blessings so I can remember God’s kindness, much like Joshua commanded the Israelites to do when He miraculously dried out the river Jordan on their behalf so they could safely cross over in Joshua 3-4. The priests led the way carrying the ark of the Lord and stood in the middle of a completely dry Jordan while the Israelites crossed over dry-shod.
Joshua 4:5–8 (ESV) says that after God powerfully dried out the Jordan so his people could safely cross over, much like he did with the Red Sea when the Israelites were running away from the Egyptians, each tribe laid down a stone to remember God’s provision and power: ”And Joshua said to them, ‘Pass on before the ark of the Lord your God into the midst of the Jordan, and take up each of you a stone upon his shoulder, according to the number of the tribes of the people of Israel, that this may be a sign among you. When your children ask in time to come, ‘What do those stones mean to you?’ then you shall tell them that the waters of the Jordan were cut off before the ark of the covenant of the Lord. When it passed over the Jordan, the waters of the Jordan were cut off. So these stones shall be to the people of Israel a memorial forever.’ ” For now, this is post is my wall of remembrance, because I know God has blessed me in so many ways that I sometimes forget or simply take those blessings for granted when they become a part of my everyday life. But, as of today, I can safely say that I am grateful.
Week 1- I fell off the gratitude wagon but I’m baaack with a new zeal to see this experiment until the end. This time I restarted my gratitude experiment with an army of 10 friends. We are all fully armed with handmade gratitude journals built from Hobby Lobby scraps and writing utensils. We’re committed to writing at least 5 things we’re grateful for each day. I don’t always have time to write in my journal, so I sometimes grab a piece of scratch paper and place it near my computer at work and jot down things I’m grateful for throughout my workday. Once I start, it’s hard to stop at just 5 things; the list gets longer and longer throughout the day. I find myself noticing my blessings a little more than before and catch myself understanding just how blessed I am. It’s easier to see the good in my life and find myself recuperating faster after a disappointment. I also see a wider range of possible positive outcomes to my life. Have you ever looked back at a situation in your life and wondered why you didn’t handle a situation more positively? It would have changed the outcome drastically. Personally, I think I haven’t done that because I simply didn’t see the good in it. Don’t get me wrong sometimes it’s best to just sit with reality for a little while so we don’t end up living in denial but there’s been plenty of times when a little positivity would have gone a long ways in resolving my problems. Well, now it’s a little easier to see the good in the bad. I’m not a Pollyanna but it’s getting a little easier to see the good that’s right in front of me.
Week 2- I haven’t done this perfectly but one thing I am starting to notice is that I’m now seeing myself as the type of person for whom good things happen. I am not a forgotten bystander in a society with a small clique of lucky individuals, but rather I’ve finally joined the crowd of the “blessed”. Good things also happen to me, not just others. When I hear of good things happening to others, I’m starting to think, “Yeah, that could also happen to me” versus, “That would never happen to me”. Yes, good things are also a part of my everyday existence now.
Week 3- This week I learned about the relationship between gratitude and faith. As I embark in my journey towards greater attitude, I realized that it is difficult to truly be grateful when I hold the belief that God hasn’t really provided for me in the past so why should I trust Him with the future? There is an inherit ungratefulness that takes over whenever I don’t acknowledge God as the source and creator of everything that’s good in my life. I liken this to eating a feast of the most delectable food and then turning around and telling people that I never eat. In the same way, God has provided so, so many times in ways that were extravagant but I, unfortunately, clung to the mindset that He doesn’t really care about me. It’s almost like an inherent ingratitude that I was carry every time I forget about his goodness, mercy and provision. God has provided friendships, confirmations, healing and physical provision so many times that there’s no way I can honestly say with a clear conscience that He doesn’t take care about me or His children. If God was willing to take care of my needs when my life was less than perfect, and my behavior was less than exemplary — how much more can He take care of all of those who are trying their best to get their life on the right road? So, yes, some days it takes a great deal of faith to say that God will provide for all my needs when things look depressing and dismal but if I look back at my life in gratitude, I can honestly say He does. And He does it in a way that’s kind and extravagant.
Week 4- Abundance. It’s easier to see abundance now wherever I go. I see it when I wake up and realize how lucky I have to have a job I like. I see it when I eat my lunch and dinner and realize there’s no lack in my life. I see it when I go to stores and see the abundance in the shelves- no lack there. In the past I’ve spent my time worrying about not having enough, but now I all I see is all of those opportunities begging to be recognized that I ungratefully turned my back on. I don’t want to do that anymore. I realize that if I wake up with mindset that there is enough, that there are enough blessings to be recognized, I will find them. I will see the good when it comes instead of stumbling around blindfolded wondering where the good went.
Prayer- Thank you God for the abundance in our lives. Thank you for giving us open minds that will allow us to recognize the good in our lives. Thank you for instilling the right grateful habits to help us recognize the blessings. We welcome your abundance in our lives even more and thank you ahead of time for the good that’s just around the corner. Amen.
