Gratitude

in my life recently and that is gratitude. I was sitting at my internship and I had quite a bit of time on my hands so I decided to start reading a book series my mom had bought me for this year. The first book was called the ultimate gift and it’s about a young man who never worked a day in his life thanks to his grandfather who was an incredibly wealthy man. And as his grandfather passes away he discovers he is to inherit “the ultimate gift” and through this long process the young man has to spend 12 months learning a different lesson every month. One month he is to learn the gift of gratitude and to do so he follows his grandfathers instructions to make a “Golden list” of all the things he is truly grateful for in his life no matter how mundane or unimportant it may seem and remember it every morning when he wakes up. So through reading this book I decided to create a golden list in my head and well here it is: 

1. A healthy body 
2. My newborn nephew
3. This amazing gap year 
4. Truthful education 
5. My beautiful mom
6. My loyal and loving sister 
7. My wonderful host family 
8. All of my new friendships I have discovered this year 
9. My faith 
10. My optimistic future 

Those are all things I am so incredibly thankful for and would not trade for the world. The theme of gratitude also showed up last Sunday when I was going to church with my host family and that was the sermon that day. The pastor preached about how the lord commands us to give with a grateful heart. And not to give begrudgingly or unsurely. God doesn’t want us to give something because we feel like we have to, he wants us to do it with a cheerful heart. He doesn’t want us to give everything we have and leave ourselves with nothing, but this one thing is true: the more you sow the more you reap. Therefore if you bless others with what the lord has blessed you with, then you will be blessed more. We should be good stewards of our money and the things we have been given so that we can help meet the needs of others when there is a need to be met. I am not sure why this theme of gratitude has been showing up in my life but I’m sure there is a reason for it. I just know I should always remind myself what I am grateful for and that I should share my blessings with others so that they can be grateful too. Once again thanks so much to anyone who has been keeping up with me! I appreciate it a lot. Stay tuned for more!