My Thank You List

I forgot which saint said that if the only prayer type we ever learn is that of thanksgiving we will do all right in this spiritual journey called life.  While it’s simple to say thank you, it requires a bit of training – am reminded of the Gospel story about the ten lepers who asked Jesus for healing and after healing all ten only one returns to say thank you.  This story illustrates how difficult it is to stop or return to God after we receive what we asked of Him in prayer.  For some reason (at least for me) prayer of petition (of asking for what I want) comes more naturally for most of us; but, the good news is we can learn to become more thankful. We can develop a grateful spirit with proper training (smile).

This week I received some good news and my natural reaction was to run to tell my parents the happy news.  After I told them that I had been extended two more months at my job and returned to my desk savoring the unexpected happening I realized that I hadn’t thanked the One who had made the little miracle possible.  Quickly I returned to God to personally thank Him and though my initial reaction was not to say thank you I didn’t beat myself up because my period before realizing that I must be grateful is getting shorter- yeahy!  I am neither the leper that rushed back to say thank you nor the nine that forgot- I am a happy medium making small progress in prayer of thanksgiving.

Days away from our national Thanksgiving holiday it seems fitting to make time to make a thankful list.  I know that in the cooking and preparations sometimes the spirit of the day is missed, but make an effort to go through your life and acknowledge all those blessings that often get missed in the bustle of things.  You’d be surprise how giving focus to the things we have and not those that we don’t will give you joy and satisfaction.  This Thanksgiving I have so many things to be thankful for especially not being laid off on my birthday or having another Christmas to share with my brown wolf.  Just writing these two things on my list already makes me so utterly happy- so come start your gracias list, “today, I am thankful for..."

1. Dollar's recovery.
2. My job.
3. My birds singing me awake.
4. My health.
5. Family
6. Friends.
7. Community.
8. Learning new skills- like baking!
9. Christmas gatherings.
10. Another year of life.
11. My faith.
12. Our Garden.
13. My silly parents
14. ...