Head to Heart

Daily Gratitude Year 5-Day 75: Today... I am grateful for things that move from the head to the heart.

Gratitude, for me, started as a daily exercise. It has become very much a discipline. The first goals were small.

January 2013... post one thing to be grateful for on this day. 31 days. My best girlfriend was battling recurrent breast cancer... with a smile on her face every day. I could come up with on tiny piece of gratitude each morning.

Then... I discovered it made a difference in how my entire day unfolded. So... one more month wouldn't hurt anything and February is short. February is full of birthdays of special people I adore and it is the "love month". I could whip that out in a flash.

By March, I started to crave the time. Focusing on the goodness... even the littlest things... that God pours into my days... changed every thing. Even the hard days were more tolerable. Speak it, until the head knowledge moves to the heart. Right?

"Let the heartbeat of your Bible reading be this simple prayer, "Lord, move this from my head to my heart." -John Piper

The head knowledge was moving to my heart. Why not set the goal for a year?

Think of it as gratitude gravity. The head is higher than the heart, right? 
March brought an early Easter and gratitude was good. Then, April 5,2013, Dad died with no warning. He worked with joy in the morning, lunched with Mama, took a nap and woke up in heaven. Not too shabby for him. The shock for us was tangible. His Dad lived to almost a hundred... so did his Aunt Elin... so his 70's didn't seem like time. But, God's timing is always perfect.

Somehow... with illness... and grief... gratitude was the very thing made the difference in coping skills. My trials do not even come close to Jobs. Job found broken praise. I learned to be more grateful in the moments and not so concerned with the future.

I know who holds the future... in my head. Do I let that move to my heart? I know who holds this day. Do I trust him?

I will give thanks to the Lord with my whole heart; I will recount all of your wonderful deeds.-Psalm 9:1

This will be short today. For those who have not started a gratitude journal, today is a great day to do that. It helps us give thanks with our "whole heart". 

Gratitude must be spoken. It doesn't change God, it changes us.

Today... I am grateful for things that move from the head to the heart.