1000 gifts...day 2, 3

I've completed day 2 and 3 of my 1000 gifts gratitude journal...and it's been hard.  Oh it's not hard to come up with things to be grateful for...there are so many.  And I think that's why I've struggled because my life is so filled with so many blessings.  So it's like I'm looking for something different, something special, something out of the norm.

I've thought about this yesterday and today, how it's been a struggle and I wonder if because I have so much and have become so used to what I have that I then take it for granted.  Every night I get to lay down in a comfy warm bed.  I have a roof over my head and no fear or concern that tomorrow it will be gone.  My cupboards are full, my well does not run dry.  I don't worry as to where my next meal will come from.  Every day I get up and I eat three meals and then some.  I drink as much as I like.  I have more than enough clothes and even though the weather may be cold and snowy I am comfortably warm when outside.  I have a family that I love dearly, a husband who loves and provides for me.  I lack for nothing...

Yet I wonder am I ungrateful...have I become so used to the life I live and the abundance, that I've lost gratitude and thanksgiving for the One who gave it all?  And all that I am blessed with everyday, the normal, expected things they don't seem special enough to write down in a gratitude journal.

I believe I am still grateful...but I also believe I have come to take for granted what I have because it's just so normal and it's always there.  Often times I rush through my days with a quick thanks here and there but do I really stop and think of what He has given me, what He has done for me.  Day falls upon day, month upon month and year upon year and I am given everything I need...but that is never cause to forget to give thanks to the Giver of it all.  Every breath I take is a gift from Him.

So even though I'm looking for those special things to be grateful for...in reality there are hundreds of things throughout my day to be grateful for.  I just need to be reawakened to what I have and my eyes need to be opened to see what He sees.  Even the little things are still cause for thanks.

January 2nd three gifts journaled...

4. Gently falling snowflakes
5. Kids on the mend after being hit hard by the flu
6. The cozy feel of warm sheets pulled out of the drier

January 3rd three gifts journaled...

7. A quiet night
8. Freedom
9. Enjoying the warmth of a wood burning stove