Gratefulness for Today





I watched a video today that put words to my thoughts on how to approach 2014. Yes, I have my resolutions. I want to drink more water, be a better wife, mom, friend, daughter, sister, aunt. I want to read more books. I want my photography to be published in a magazine. I have dreams, hopes and goals for 2014. But that is all assuming I am actually given the opportunity to live out each day in 2014. We've all heard we should live each day as if it were our last, or to live each day to the fullest. But, what exactly does that look like? Ann Voskamp writes "Obviously, I have no words, no answers. I am groping for my own way. Desperately feeling along today for a way to live through this fleeting blink of a life. How do we fully live so we are are fully ready to die?"  I don't mean to take a morbid turn on a day when so many are filled with hope and a renewed energy to improve their lives. I am just aiming to share with you what is on my heart as I approach this new year. I too feel this giddy excitement. I too have this hope that 2014 will be better than 2013.  What does better even look like? I don't know. Last year the Lord laid before me challenges I had never faced before. He grounded me. I found that when I laid my life before Him in total surrender, He gave and then took away. He gave me a child to grow for 10 weeks and took it away. He gave me an opportunity to photograph an orphan returning home in Africa and He took it away. I can tell you all that I learned from those losses, but I can also tell you that I am still trying to figure out what He wants me to learn from it. Which brings me to this year. It brings me to this video I watched. I don't know the mans name who spoke. I am so thankful for the words he shared.

"You think this is just another day in your life, it's not just another day, it's the one day that is given to you. Today. It's given to you, it's a gift, it's the only gift that you have right now and the only appropriate response is gratefulness... Let the gratefulness overflow into blessing all around you. And then it will really be a good day."

I know some people choose a word for the year. So if I had to choose, I know I would choose gratefulness. Whether in loss or in gain, in joy or heartache, in clarity or confusion, I want my days of 2014 to be filled with good days, gratefulness and blessing.

What word would you choose for 2014?


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