I have so much around me to be thankful for. Three large picture windows in my living room give me a wide view of the green meadow lined with timber. Playful calves run beside their mothers and mingle with the horses. Today some wild turkey wandered through and at dusk the deer filed in for their nightly grazing.

Wow, that’s just one view. Add to it my wonderful family filled with love and health, some precious friends and a compassionate church family. God blessed me in many ways, but I don’t always feel grateful.

Sarah Ban Breathnach wrote in Simple Abundance: A Daybook of Comfort and Joy that there “are six threads of abundant living which produce a tapestry of contentment.
Gratitude is when we do a mental and spiritual inventory of all we have and realize we are rich indeed. Gratitude gives way to:
Simplicity, the desire to clear out, pare down, and realize the essentials of what we need to live truly well. Simplicity brings:
Order, both internally and externally. A sense of order brings us:
Harmony which provides us with the inner peace we need to appreciate the beauty that surrounds us.
Beauty opens us to
Joy.”

When I read Sarah’s book, I realized that gratitude is not a feeling but a way to think. When we weave the six “threads” together they form a shield against the chaos of life. Chaos can rob us of joy. Sometimes we have to fill our minds with the rich blessings given us before our emotions will follow.

How do you regain the joy of gratitude when you are feeling low?

(Breathnach, Sarah Ban, Warner Books, 1995, January 3.)

1 Comment. Leave new

Ahh, Nancey, this is a wonderfully lovely message. I try to give thanks all the time. It helps me realize how much I have to be thankful for. God is so good to us. Every day, every way. Thanks for reminding us all to take time to look around and be thankful for what we have.

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