Tag Archives: good

Three Reasons For Gratitude!

”Upon awakening, let the words Thank You flow from your lips, for this will remind you to begin your day with gratitude and compassion.” – Wayne Dyer

The first thing I do in the morning, between the time I wake up and before my feet hit the floor, is to sit up on the edge of my bed and say: “Thank You! Thank You! Thank You!” It is my expression of Gratitude to my God and Creator, the One Who sustains me. It is my way of showing true appreciation for the gift of Jesus, forgiveness and everlasting relationship. It is my acknowledgement that I cannot do this thing called life alone and I am open and very glad for the help of the Spirit, who walks with me through and in between the moments of life.

I am saying thank you for a good night of restful and rejuvinating sleep, thank you for allowing me to wake up and face a fresh new day, thank you for the adventure and learning that is getting ready to unfold before me. I am intentionally beginning my day with gratitude, because I am truly grateful and I believe that gratitude realigns my life with all that really matters.

When I begin my day in this way, I find that gratitude walks with me all throughout the day. It is never far away from me and it helps me to see the unseen, hear the mysterious and experience the magic that so many times we tend to miss in the hustle of life. Below are a three reasons why I think gratitude is so important and worth the effort:

1. Gratitude Rewires Your Brain! There is actually since behind an attitude of gratitude and the difference it makes in your brain. To put it simply: Gratitude helps you to focus on what really matters and empowers the right things in your life and thinking. In a world where we are continually bombarded with negativity, it is both necessary and a blessing to be able to take on and take out the negative with the positive.

2. Gratitude Realigns Your Spirit! When I am grateful, I cannot help but focus on my blessings and more importantly the source of my blessings. The SOURCE is our power, our purpose, our everything. Gratitude helps to remind me that I am a spiritual being (a soul) getting to live a human experience and that almost everything I experience in this life time is teaching me to be true to who and what I really am.

3. Gratitude Rewards Your Life! The temptation of this life experience is to focus on what we don’t have, which often causes us to not appreciate what we do have. When we practice gratitude, we focus on the reality that we are loved and created to love and when we get love right, then the blessings really begin to flow to and through our life.

I encourage you to practice gratitude. Think about starting your day with it, you will be glad you did…

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Juggling Too Many Balls!

Up In The Air!Lately, I have become too busy!  I feel like I am running a never-ending marathon.  I am not complaining, just realizing that I cannot keep up this pace.  I was not created to live life this way and neither were you.

I spend almost all of my days taking care of other people and their needs.  I don’t regret this, I love that I get to do this, but then add-on top of this all the stuff that other people throw your way and that’s when it gets crazy.

Sometimes I feel like a guy juggling three balls, now that’s not so bad, even a little entertaining, but then someone throws in a fourth ball and then a fifth and a sixth.

I started out juggling three.  Three is what I juggle and now I am juggling six!  But that’s okay, because I got this.  And then all at once come balls seven, eight, nine and ten.  I think this is insane!

I finally get ball ten thrown back out.  I work my way through balls nine, eight, seven, six and get them returned to their rightful owners.  I actually pull off a pretty cool trick with balls five and four.  And now I am back to the three balls that I started with.

This is what I was created for.  Juggling three balls is a piece of cake.  I can’t stand all those other balls and I am glad they are gone.  Then I think – I was juggling ten balls and it did not kill me.  Look at how many more lives I was able to impact.  Look at how cool is was to juggle ten balls – baby!

Now I look at my three that I am very comfortable with and I think “one more won’t hurt!” and this is where the craziness starts all over.  In life, God gives you a certain number of balls to juggle.  Figure out what you are comfortable with, what you enjoy, what allows you to give Him glory.  It’s not about the amount that you juggle, it’s that you juggle for His glory.

Every now and then life will try to add something extra, if God gives you permission – take it on.  If God does not give you permission, then stay satisfied with what you’ve got and make sure you do the best with it by making the most of it!

I am still learning and I have had to learn a lot the hard way.  My main three are God, Family/Friends and Ministry.  Anything else is going to have to come with God’s permission and empowerment!