Gratitude365

Seeing the world through grateful eyes makes me realize what a privilege it is to be able to experience heaven on earth. Beauty is in the eye of the beholder.

“Glory to God in the highest heaven, and on earth peace to those on whom his favor rests.” ~Luke 2:14

It might be because of my age, or that the end of yet another year is approaching, but I’ve been in kind of a funk lately—and it’s all because I’ve been focused on the glass being half empty instead of being half full. I’ve been reminiscing… And I’ll be truthful: There are things in my life that I’m not proud of and wish I could re-do.

While it’s an uncomfortable feeling that I don’t like, I’ve been sitting with it a while🙏🏽—hence, sporadic writing as of late. Even with more than 11 years of recovery from alcohol addiction, I found I could still hold a pity-party-for-1 at a moment’s notice. There was a time when I would do anything to escape from or numb the discomfort—and, honestly, the thought that a drink would make it better did flash through my mind a couple of days ago. Thank God the voice of reason squelched that thought immediately!🙏🏽 One drink and I become insane.

This morning I awoke with a new attitude, perhaps the realization that my own mental flogging would continue until my morale improved.🙏🏽 I’m grateful for a brand new, 24-hour segment of “As the World Turns in My Life, Such As It Is.”🙏🏽 After all, my Creator designed every minute of it!🙏🏽 Every morning my daughter calls me🙏🏽 and asks what I’m going to do that day. Chances are, I have no clue, which is a blessing of retirement, perhaps—everything’s a surprise. Today’s the start of something new (even though I may not know that it might be): It’s The Present.🙏🏽

But let each one examine his own work, and then he will have rejoicing in himself alone, and not in another. ~Galatians 6:4

Yesterday was one of those days that I didn’t post a gratitude blog, and I felt badly about it. The truth of the matter is that I had writer’s block, and not that I didn’t have anything to be grateful for. I just couldn’t string two sentences together satisfactorily enough for my liking, much less make sense. After getting nowhere for a couple of hours and feeling terribly frustrated, I put aside the laptop and started in on an project that was perhaps more important: scraping off all the adhesive on the medicine cabinet door that held the mirror in place, prior to its falling off the other day while we were enroute. Miraculously, the mirror did not break. I was grateful for having something better to do than feel bad about myself.🙏🏽.

I actually enjoy mindless activity such as this from time to time, especially when it accomplishes something that needs to be done anyway.🙏🏽 Prepping the mirror was no easy feat and a lot of elbow grease was required, since Liquid Nails had been used previously. I’m grateful it took a couple of hours to chip it all away; that gave me plenty of time to think logically, and I was grateful.🙏🏽 I realized I was punishing myself for being human–how crazy and counterproductive is that? Because true, spiritual gratitude sometimes takes being grateful for things we perceive as negative, I made my self be grateful for the writer’s block. Learning to be grateful for something I don’t want is something I must work on, and I realized that this was an opportunity to practice just that.🙏🏽 It’s mind over matter.

As it turned out, skipping a day of blogging was not the end of the world because here it is Today, and I’m back writing! It’s hard sometimes to remember that circumstances are transitory, and to be grateful in all things.🙏🏽 The experience was a reminder that “this, too, shall pass,” and was a lesson I apparently needed to repeat once again. I’m grateful it gets easier each time I do.🙏🏽

Let us acknowledge the Lord; let us press on to acknowledge him. As surely as the sun rises, he will appear; he will come to us like the winter rains, like the spring rains that water the earth. ~Hosea 6:3

Travel delights me, especially when it takes me somewhere I’ve never been to before. I love exploring new places, but I don’t have to go far to appreciate the wonders of what’s right in front of me. I just have to pay attention.

After three days of travel, it was a blessing to be able to just stay right here and chill yesterday.🙏🏽 The lawn chairs were set up in the shade of the pin oak tree alongside the RV, and it was so pleasant to simply ‘be.’🙏🏽 After lunch my husband and I went for a long bike ride and explored the campground and what used to be the Brackenridge family’s plantation. I am so, so grateful for our e-bikes that enable us to go further and longer than we could otherwise.🙏🏽 Most of the day was spent outdoors, and I loved it.

Pelicans, egrets and heron abound here. Seeing them reminded me of just how long it’s been since I’ve been to the coast, and it made me that much more thankful for being here now.🙏🏽 Being somewhere warm in the winter is a blessing I’m more and more grateful for the older I get.🙏🏽

Just how much more wonderful is heaven than all the beauty and wonders right here on earth? It’s hard to fathom, but I hope to be blessed to be there someday. Until then, I’m grateful for heaven right here on earth. It’s everywhere, if I only take the time to look.

Our help is in the name of the Lord, Who made heaven and earth. ~Psalm 124:8

I’m grateful to be blessed with another morning.🙏🏽 It’s Day 2 of our journey south, and I’m grateful this RV park turned out to be a safe place to overnight🙏🏽—albeit it being very close to the interstate and a bit ‘rough,’ in terms of aesthetics. All gravel everything (roads, RV sites), no picnic tables, no grass, for that matter. The pups look forlorn when I take them outside. The important thing is that it was a safe place.🙏🏽 I slept well and am set for another day on the road.

Feeling safe and secure means a lot more to me now than it ever used to. Maybe that’s a sign of the times. Or maybe my age. Either way, it’s a different world, and a scary one at that. I’m grateful we live on the edge of civilization most of the year, and in a small town when we go south for the winter.🙏🏽 It’s such a different world than the one I grew up in.

That’s why continual gratitude so important to me. It spotlights what’s truly meaningful.🙏🏽 What really matters. 🙏🏽What lasts.🙏🏽

In gratitude, my focus is on God since He is the Maker of all the things I express gratitude for. A few months ago, I began reading the Bible in earnest from the beginning for the very first time. I read a little bit each day, and am grateful I added it to my morning ritual. 🙏🏽 Then I saw something go by on my Telegram feed the other day, suggesting that by reading one chapter of the Gospel according to Luke each day in December, one would know precisely who Jesus was by Christmas Day (since there are 24 chapters.) What a great idea🙏🏽 and easily do-able, so I’ve added that.🙏🏽

I’ve noticed that the more I practice gratitude, the more I have to be grateful for. It’s the gift that keeps on giving!🙏🏽

Today I drove the motorhome from Arkadelphia, Arkansas to Nacodoches, Texas.🙏🏽Diesel prices have decreased by at least $1 once we got off the interstate.🙏🏽 I’m grateful for another uneventful travel day.🙏🏽 I’m grateful it’s warm enough for shorts!🙏🏽 This is why we go south for the winter.☺️

And you will seek Me and find Me, when you search for Me with all your heart. ~Jeremiah 29:13

Today was the start of our annual trip south for the winter, and I’m grateful for a flawless departure, an uneventful trip, and finding a safe campground to spend the first night of this winter’s adventure.🙏🏽

I’m grateful for driving safely through fog that appeared out of nowhere🙏🏽 and I’m grateful for drivers who put their lights on.🙏🏽 I’m grateful for fall foliage that still lingers near Little Rock (It’s December!)🙏🏽 I’m grateful for GPS that directs us efficiently.🙏🏽

I’m grateful for the Christmas music that played along the way 🙏🏽 and conversation.🙏🏽 I’m grateful for peaceful daydreaming and watching life go by.🙏🏽 I’m grateful for having the ability to travel and escape the cold.🙏🏽

Praise the Lord. Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good; his love endures forever. ~Psalm 106:1

After sitting in one place for the past seven months, I’m grateful to be finally starting our annual trip south tomorrow🙏🏽, and I am trying to psyche myself up for the trip from here at the resort to Highway 65, which will take us towards Little Rock. It’s less than five miles as the crow flies. But for us mere humans, it’s 22 miles of windy and hilly 2-lane, shoulder-less country highways with changing speed limits and steep inclines to navigate, as well as a 2-lane truss bridge that traverses Table Rock Lake.

The current bridge is in the process of being replaced–an endeavor which is projected to take three years and be completed by Summer 2025. Until then, what used to be a smooth straightaway leading from road-to-bridge is now somewhat of a jag. I try to envision driving our motorhome-and-tow, negotiating the curve; thank goodness the speed limit there slows to 30 mph and sometimes even comes to a halt when traffic across the bridge goes from 2-lane to one.🙏🏽

I’m playing out the scenario in my head, just in case I’m behind the wheel tomorrow. I’ve driven this same route once before, prior to the bridge work, so I know I can do it.🙏🏽 It’s just that it’s 22 miles of 2-lane highway with very few places to safely pass and no turnouts to allow others to pass. It could be very nerve wracking, and I really, really don’t like having an impatient driver behind me when I’m driving the rig. Especially on a road like that!

Even though there is at least a 50/50 chance my husband will be driving, my anxiety level will not be assuaged in the least. As a matter of fact, most of the time, I prefer to drive. I like knowing that I would be (cap)able to get us from Point A to Point B if the situation warranted.🙏🏽 Now that I think about it, that was one of the driving forces (no pun intended) that convinced us to trade in our 5th wheel for a motorhome three years ago.

In any event, the plan is to start heading south tomorrow, December 5th. This is the longest we’ve lingered north since we started full-time RVing in 2017, and even though there were a few very frigid nights, we are grateful we stayed. We experienced a bit of an Ozark Christmas which was fantastic, ensured that the furnace and all the others systems in the RV were in good working order, and enjoyed the tranquility of the off-season here at the lake.🙏🏽 I couldn’t have predicted we’d be in one spot so long, but it was time well spent. Once again, a timely reminder that life is what we make it.🙏🏽

Blessed be the Lord, who daily loads us with benefits, the God of our salvation! ~Psalm 68:19

It’s a clear, cold morning in the Ozarks and I’m relishing the day it’s already been, and it’s just now 7 a.m.🙏🏽 I love getting up while it’s still dark, and spending all the time I want connecting with God, watching night transition into day, and seeing the sun rise.🙏🏽 It’s been my habit for several years now to spend the first hour or two of the day with Him, and the rest of the day falls into place naturally. 🙏🏽

I’ve always loved to write, and these gratitude pages help keep my mindset positive which is always helpful but especially much more these days.🙏🏽 Lately, and for so many reasons, I’ve been feeling very grateful to be the age I am. 68. I was reluctant to use the word ‘aging’ as a topic, but its definition is spot on:

I love that first part, acquiring desirable qualities by being left undisturbed for some time. Being very much a people-person, I became concerned when I began noticing a few years ago that I preferred my own company over the company of others and began isolating, for my own mental health, more than anything else. Almost three years ago, I quit facebook and stopped watching tv totally. 🙏🏽 I’ve missed neither.

Everything that’s happen since early 2020 until now—covid, the hysteria and fear generated by the media, the rigged elections, the cancel culture, etc—is validation that that was a wise choice.🙏🏽 The cesspool of what’s contrived to be the news and worse yet, entertainment, is abominable. Social media is a treasure trove of personal information, great for gleaning artificial intelligence and readily available to God knows who for a price. Not a pleasant thought.

One of the things that’s happened as a result is that I’ve come to value my time and the gift that it truly is.🙏🏽 I don’t want to waste a minute of it, probably because more people I know are passing away. Gratitude makes me more cognizant of the ‘next right thing,’ and that always leads to good. Alone, I experience🙏🏽—whether it’s reading the Bible, writing what I’m grateful for, photographing a sunrise, putting together a quiche or knitting.

Feeding my aging soul with positive things enables me to better deal with my husband and my pups, all of whom are aging, too.🙏🏽 Aging is teaching me patience, tolerance, compassion, empathy and so much more.🙏🏽 I’m grateful to be the age I am.🙏🏽

My people will live in peaceful dwelling places, in secure homes, in undisturbed places of rest. ~Isaiah 32:18