3,499 Days of Gratitude

 

Daily Gratitude Year 10-Day 213: Today, I am grateful for 3,499 days of Gratitude!

This is year ten. Nine completed. Year ten is more than half over. The day count is:

365 X 9 + 2 (Leap Years) + 312 = 3,499. Tomorrow will mark 3,500 daily posts on Facebook.

Will ten be the end? I am still praying about it. Facebook has been my primary source of documenting although, I did start saving it on a blogpost at "fromvaleriesheart" for non-Facebook friends. There are over 2,500 journal entries there.

The history of Daily Gratitude goes back to November 2012. It was one of those seasons that was full of challenges. I had left a job, a place, patients and co-workers I loved, knowing God was moving me, but I didn't know why. ( Hindsight is truly 20/20.) I was learning a new job, new people, my Uncle Lee was in his last days with Huntington's (the same disease my Mama was fighting), and my friend, who was more like a sister, Jill, received the news her cancer had returned on Halloween 2012... my birthday. I know there was more tough stuff in that season, but those things stand out in my memory.

I never question the sovereignty of God. I never claim to understand His ways. Still, years of knowing him as Lord and Savior has taught me to trust his heart, even when I have no explanation for His ways.

I missed starting the "30 Days of Gratitude" in November of 2012. I challenged myself to post every day in January 2013, because I always need help with my attitude about the cold winter months. 31 Days. It seemed like a big commitment at the time. January 2013 came and the discipline began.

I love writing in the morning, but as long as something was posted every day, it counted. In the beginning, they weren't much. I intentionally looked for the "small things" that are really the big things. Nothing was off limits. At the end of 30 days, I realized it really did make a difference. An attitude of gratitude is a powerful thing.

"Be thankful in all circumstances, for this is God’s will for you who belong to Christ Jesus." -1 Thessalonians 5:15

Why is it God's will for us? Because, in gratitude we find a closer, deeper walk with the One who loves us more than He loved his own life.

In our "all circumstances", we know His nearness. Our relationship with Him is not only about the good times and good days. "Oh Heaven's no!" , as Mama Ina Mae would say. We feel His blessings when life is good, but we depend on Him when things fall apart.

When I started Daily Gratitude in January 2013, I had no idea Dad would die suddenly in April 2013 and Jill in September 2014. In choosing gratitude, there was a strange peace most of the world struggles to understand. I learned a great deal about gratitude from Mama.

Both Mama and one of her best friends lost daughters unexpectedly, each with its own unique twist of tragedy. Mary Beth died on July 11, 1988 on a youth ministry trip in a freak caving accident. April died of an undiagnosed heart defect on August 26, 1995 while serving in the US Air Force in Okinawa, two weeks before she was supposed to marry her Marine. In a blink, life would change. Mama Ina Mae and sweet Ethel are two of the most grateful souls I have ever known. They learned to live with grief... in gratitude.

We don't get "over" the big griefs in life. We plow through them. We make peace with them. We let fires of grief forge us into someone new. Gratitude is a better plow than bitterness. It is easier to live with, too. Anger is part of the process, but it is exhausting and hard on those around us. When we learn to sit with grief, in gratitude, we are forever changed. His strength pours into our broken places and His light into our darkness.

Sorry about the long post. It took an unexpected twist. Thanks for reading if you stuck with it to the end. (Love you Ethel and Don).

Today, I am grateful for 3,499 days of Gratitude!