Ever since a colleague asked if anyone on our staff would join her in the challenge to list 1,000 things for which to give thanks, I’ve been jotting them down. The three days after I started were some of the most enjoyable of my life. Thoughts about the present and ever so many memories came so fast, I could hardly get them all written.
Unfortunately, I didn’t number the items. Over the next weeks, every time more ideas came to mind, I grabbed whatever paper was near, wrote on it, and placed it in the notebook I'd started. I have no idea how close I am to 1,000, but the pattern of gratitude has continued.
I've returned also to a practice I learned in a class, "To Know Christ More Personally." Every night just before I go to sleep, I write two--or often more--things from that day for which I am thankful: evidences of God's love. This practice has helped me review the day and intentionally see how Jesus through his Spirit has been with me. Occasionally I note a smile from my mother who has advanced dementia. Often, I give thanks for something in nature--a sunset, the song of a bird, an exquisite rose. What the Old Testament psalmist wrote long ago holds true today:
“It is good to give thanks to the Lord, and to sing praises to Your name, O Most High;
To declare Your lovingkindness in the morning, and Your faithfulness every night”
Psalm 92:1-2, (NKJV).
The anonymous author of this post wrote in response to a blog post on the NCF website. The writer speaks encouraging truth and presents us with an edifying, life-enriching challenge.
Get more encouragement and spiritual empowering: Download and use NCF’s new, free Bible study series, Nursing with Strength that Endures.
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