on being intentionally thankful & oh yeah

One of the moms of a girl that I teach gave me this great little journal for Christmas.  It was the perfect size for me to carry around in my purse, and that birthed an idea in my brain.  Since the journal is a dated journal, I decided to use it as my one sentence a day (well, most of the time) gratitude journal.

I always make that space in my journal every November, but I thought it would be really neat to do a whole year.  So, I packed up my colored pens one day, threw the journal in my purse and headed to the park with my boys.

The point of the journal is to be intentionally thankful for something every single day.  We have breath, therefore we have something to rejoice in.  The more you focus on being thankful, the more you start looking for Jesus in the everyday things.  Will it mean you never have a bad day?  Of course not.  It will, however, turn your mind to Him, and to thank Him in the midst of trials.  (Like the Bible says in the book of James.)

I said 'most of the time', because often, I end up with more than one sentence.  But that's okay.  The point is just to be intentionally thankful every single day.

The above is just a small sample of what each entry looks like.

Another thing I do is something I read recently in an article.  This is keeping an 'oh yeah' list~a list of things about your husband that you love, but otherwise would have forgotten about, had you not written them down.  The point of this is to focus on all your man's wonderful qualities, not the nit picky things you nag him about.  This is such a small and simple idea, but let me tell you~it will change your marriage.  I read over my list yesterday, and when Todd got home, I was extra glad to see him.

If you tend to focus more on negative than positive, I encourage you to give these two small and simple ideas a try.

Love to all.