Wise Words Wednesday: Gratitude

"God gave you a gift of 86,400 seconds today. Have you used one to say 'thank you?'" ~ William A. Ward

It is SO easy to get caught up in the craziness of every day life. I struggle with this ALL. THE. TIME. An underlying theme in my life, and this here blog, and maybe my biggest unofficial Dream To Do has been my mission to focus on living in the moment, trying to slow down, appreciating the simple things in life, and living a life of love. I think what lies at the root of all of this is GRATITUDE - giving thanks and feeling grateful for all of the good in your life. It is way too easy to get caught up in minuscule details of every day life that feel HUGE at the time, but in the grand scheme of things are NOTHING.

Landon got his helmet on Monday (more about this tomorrow!). When we got home from his appointment I watched him sitting in the middle of our living room floor playing with toys with this big ole blue thing on his head and I felt sad. I'm not going to be able to kiss that sweet, fuzzy head of his whenever I want. Snuggling him won't be as easy - or comfortable. How is he going to handle it when it gets hot out? And ya know what I did? I caught myself worrying & feeling sorry for myself & being negative and I STOPPED. I stopped and I said a prayer of thanks. Thank you God for giving me the opportunity to do this for my son. Thank you for giving me his health, his happiness. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.

And I instantly felt better.

There is just something about gratitude that puts everything in perspective. I need to remember to feel grateful more often. I think it takes practice. Time to bust out my gratitude journal again.