Our Grateful Heart t-shirt design was inspired by my daughters goats....a truck from my childhood....and all that we have to be thankful for!
As we enter into a time of Thanksgiving, I want to encourage you to intentionally dwell on your own grateful heart moments.
"Grateful Heart” has become a theme for me this fall. The other day, hubby and I were having a talk about dwelling on our “grateful heart moments” of the past week. I think we described them as moments that, even for a second or two, gave you a feeling of bliss. We decided to list some of those moments and to really just live in the memory of each of them for a bit.
We had recently attended the wedding of our nephew and his new bride. One of these moments for me was when our nephew walked to the front for the ceremony, pausing when he reached the group of us and said, “Hello, family”.
The look on his face and the familiar kindness in his eyes seemed to refresh our family bond as we celebrated his happiness as our own. Those few seconds took me back to when he and his cousins were younger, and to the love James and I have had for these children since they were born, or in some cases, since they joined our family through adoption or marriage. That “Hello, Family” sparked a few seconds of bliss for me.
I had other moments of bliss throughout the evening. My heart was touched as I watched my husband dance with our teen-age granddaughter, both of them singing to the music.
I shared with some of the adult nieces and nephews that seeing them all together, laughing and talking, took me back to when they were children. I reminded them that, even though we don’t see each other as often, the love we had for each of them as children and for our family unit, is still in our hearts and was in the room that night.
As my mind took me back to that happy time in my life, and as I savored the feeling of the love of family, I experienced a moment of bliss.
On our porch that afternoon last week, as my husband and I listed our recent bliss moments, I noticed that it was very easy and tempting to say, “That was a great moment, but…. (I wish, I should, etc.)”.
We had to be very intentional that afternoon to let those bliss moments dwell in our heart rather than go to the next thought.
That’s my challenge for you today. Think about those moments, even seconds, of bliss in your life. Be encouraged that, even when we’re going through a non-blissful TIME of life, we can still find a few seconds of bliss in God’s creation.
Taking a moment to listen to the sound of singing birds, to feel the breeze on our face, or to appreciate something as simple as the shade of orange in a fall leaf, can create a small moment of bliss. Recognizing those moments and dwelling in them without allowing distractions of “should-do’s” and “if-only’s”, can help to fill our hearts with gratitude.
God is sending bliss our way. Watch for it, be aware of it, dwell on it, and store it in your grateful heart!
DeannaFinally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things.
Philippians 4:8