Gratitude Changes Things
Gratitude is defined as the quality of being thankful. We all know what it means to be thankful and we have all heard the word thankfulness at least a million times throughout this month. I'm sure your grandma has already given you all the speeches about being thankful this season (lol). Well, let me ask you what everyone else has been asking you, what are you thankful for? Let me guess your family, your friends, and good food. I'll admit that is always my answer too, when someone asks I never add any further thoughts. Let's be honest we are all guilty of the short quick answers to get out of the conversation with that one crazy family member you are forced to talk to once or twice every year. But let me ask you, what are you genuinely thankful for? Here are some of mine just off the top of my head, forgiveness and the ability to forgive, sunrises, car rides with the windows down and the music blasting, running, fuzzy’s taco shop, therapy, my mom, ice cream, lessons learned and growth from those lessons, and change.
If you have ever been friends with Jessica Couch during the month of November you have probably signed her thankfulness pumpkin. You are probably thinking “What the actual heck is a thankfulness pumpkin???” Well let me explain, they are pumpkins that Jessica buys at Hobby Lobby and we keep them on the kitchen table and everyone is supposed to write one thing they are thankful for each day of November. This year I got to have my own thankfulness pumpkin in my dorm room at school. When I first got it I was thinking how am I supposed to fill this up, there are thirty days in November, no way I can come up with something different for each day. Boy was I wrong, that thing is full. When I look at it, it is such a good reminder that I have a lot more to be thankful for than I think. It has helped to change the way I view my life. I don't write all the things I don't have or all the things I want to have on that pumpkin. I don't write about my new favorite shoes or those Lululemon shorts I really love. I write about all the things I've gotten to experience with the people I love the most. Every time I write on the silly little pumpkin I feel a sense of gratitude for the things I have. My mindset shifts away from the worry and wants of the world to the blessings that God has given me.
Coming into college I was heartbroken, I almost didn't even come. I was lost and hurting, I didn't have joy and I was putting my worth in people and things that were temporary. I felt so unloved and so unwanted. If you had asked me what I was thankful for then I probably would not have had much to say. I had no gratitude for anything or anyone around me. I was focused on all that I had lost instead of focusing on all the blessings around me. While a lot has changed in my life since then, one of the biggest changes was my mindset. The truth is gratitude changes things. When you love everything you have, it’s hard to miss the things you don’t have. Loving what you have makes your heart so full that it’s hard to focus on emptiness. Romans 12:2 “Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing, and perfect will.” What does it mean to be transformed by the renewing of your mind?? Well, it means looking at life through the lens of God's Word and all the blessings He has given us instead of looking at life through the lens of your hurt, bitterness, trauma, worldliness preferences, or the opinions of others. When talking about this topic with Jessica she said something that made me stop and think, “I feel like it’s so true, with the small things like food and big things like people. You never look at a table full of your favorite things and wish there was one more of your favorite things there. You are fine with all the favorite foods that are there to choose from. With people, if you genuinely fill your heart and are so incredibly grateful for them and you are constantly like man I’m so thankful for them, etc, it’s hard to want any more than what you have at that moment.” The lens you choose to look at life through changes things and gratitude changes everything!
Good Talk,
Rylie With The Messy Life :)
