PPT: Thanksgiving

For a time I decided to pursue a thankful heart. I knew I was complaining too often, speaking too negatively, looking always for bad things to happen and not dwelling on the blessings God has poured out in my life. It wasn't that I hadn't received many wonderful gifts; the problem was in my lack of thankfulness in my own heart. So I made a goal for myself of writing down in a journal every day three new things I was grateful for. I needed to change my thoughts, so I challenged myself to seek out the blessings that were already present in my life and actively thanking God for them. I wrote each one down as a prayer ("Thank you, Lord, for ...") and never intentionally repeated anything. It worked for me. I am very thankful to say that my outlook now is much more positive. I recognize more readily the blessings in my life and I'm much quicker at thanking the Lord for them. I'm no longer writing down three new things every day, but I am thanking God more, throughout the day, as I recognize each blessing. If I ever find myself slipping back into my old ways of thinking, I will definitely return to writing down a few new blessings every day and actively choosing to thank God for them.