The Gratitude Project

“Cultivate the habit of being grateful for every good thing that comes to you, and to give thanks continuously. And because all things have contributed to your advancement you should include all things in your gratitude.” – Ralph Waldo Emerson

At the beginning of 2015, my social media feed was filled with the hopes that 2015 will be the year where our prayers get answered and our deepest wishes come true. Without even realizing it, the year just whizzed by and soon, we find ourselves right smack in the middle of it. We often get lost in the frenzy of life that we forget to simply sit back and appreciate how far we’ve come.

As human beings, we’re extremely goal oriented. We have this innate passion to win at life, however we define winning as. We want the job, we want the clothes, we want the relationship and we want things to stay this way forever. We keep striving and reaching without realizing how much we have been blessed with. As driven individuals, we have the tendency to simply go from one checklist to the next without realizing we have to appreciate the fact that we’re actually ticking things off our list. There are days when we feel discouraged by the huge gap between where we want to be and where we are that we don’t realize that even if they were baby steps, we have indeed come a long way. It’s not a crime to pat yourself on the back every once in awhile and be proud of what you’ve achieved so far.

We also have this tendency to dislike it when things end. We feel like we’ve failed in life when certain people, jobs, and what not exit our life thinking that we would have been more successful if they have stayed. But the truth is, we simply have to be thankful for the time we’ve spent in that job and with that person. We cannot control how long a season lasts in our life, but we can make use of the hurt we feel when the season ends by learning the lessons. I used to hate hearing about life from this perspective but it’s the truth. The only way we get through anything ending in our lives is by thanking God for the happy moments, discovering the gold, and moving on from it. Stop getting angry with people who left and situations that didn’t go our way, find the purpose and be grateful.

So as you start your week, simply thank God that you have jobs to go to, people you love, and food on the table. Our parents were right, when we begin thanking God for the small things, the big things happen but until then, let’s be grateful for today.