As an heir of God I should be striving to be more like God himself, so that I may be a better picture of Christ to those around me, a better example to those I'm close to, and a better tool for the Lord to use. One area that always needs work in my life is learning to be consistently content. So I thought about how to think thankful thoughts all day long. I tend to run my day by the top of the hour. I set goals to have things done by the top of the next hour, I start and finish work at the top of an hour, I usually wake up and go to bed at the top of the hour. So I came up with a plan to think of something I was thankful for for that hour and then as the hour progressed (If I had time, or remembered to think about it) I would break down that item and think of related items to be thankful for. Like this...
6:00 am Thankful for Life!
a. thankful to be able to get out of bed
b. thankful to be alive and healthy
7:00 am Thankful for Breakfast
a. for the energy it gives me
8:00 am Thankful for my Home
a. thankful for the warmth it provides in the winter
b. thankful for the privacy and safety it provides for my family
9:00 am Thankful for Music
a. thankful for the ability to praise the Lord in song
b. thankful for the encouragement of Christian music
10:00 am Thankful for my Job
a. thankful for the income that God provides
b. thankful that it is close to home
c. thankful that I can take my baby to work with me!
11:00 am Thankful for Naptime
a. thankful for alone time
b. thankful for git-r-done time!
12:00 pm Thankful for Consistency
a. thankful for patterns in my life - knowing what to expect
1:00 pm Thankful for Health
a. thankful for the ability to sleep at night
b. thankful to have an appetite and to want to eat
2:00 pm Thankful for Sunshine
a. thankful that I am not depressed
b. thankful that I can rely on God
3:00 pm Thankful for a Vehicle
a. thankful to have freedom to go when and where I want to
4:00 pm Thankful for modern kitchen appliances
a. thankful that cooking isn't an all day job
b. thankful for easy storage, and easy use appliances
5:00 pm Thankful for Free Time
a. thankful for books and the ability to read
b. thankful for my piano and the ability to play it
c. thankful for afternoon chats with friends
6:00 pm Thankful for Friends
a. thankful for instant communication
b. thankful for their encouragement
c. thankful for their companionship
7:00 pm Thankful for my Spouse
a. thankful I don't have to live alone
b. thankful for a father for my children
c. thankful that I have someone to share the funny things in life with
8:00 pm Thankful for my Children
a. thankful for thier love
b. thankful for their need of me
c. thankful for their companionship
9:00 pm Thankful for Provision
a. thankful for having more than enough
b. thankful for having things to do, things to keep my hands and mind busy
10:00 pm Thankful for Bedtime
a. thankful for a warm, comfortable bed
b. thankful for a required time to relax and rejuvenate
11:00 pm Thankful for God's Protection
a. thankful that I can rest in peace knowing God is in control
b. thankful that I am safe in the arms of my God!
How would your day change if you did more thinking about thankfulness than about yourself? Why not try your own version of hourly thanksgiving for the rest of today, and then try for all of tomorrow? If you don't think you can come up with as many things as I did, then sleep in and good to bed early!! But really, you can vary it any way you see fit to make your day more thankful. Try writing each hours thought on a sticky note and placing it somewhere related to that event. By the end of the day your house will be full of reminders to be thankful!
Sarah
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