Thankful Thursday

There is a song I learned in church as a kid and it goes like this, (if you know it, sing it along with me): "Count your blessings, name them one by one. Count your blessings, see what God has done! Count your blessings, name them one by one. Count your many blessings, see what God has done."

Now that you have that song rolling around in your head, let's practice our math and start counting!

1. You and I have the opportunity to be grateful. We can choose gratitude over grumpitude. (Yes, grumpitude is a new word I just made up.) Think about it. How do you feel when you are grumpy? How do you feel when are with or near someone who is grumpy? Kinda drains the life out of the room doesn't it? Conversely, how do you feel when you are grateful? Or with someone who is grateful? Be thankful we can choose gratitude.

2. Being thankful changes the chemistry in your brain for good. One of my new favorite authors is Dr. Caroline Leaf. In her book, Switch On Your Brain, she shows two scans of two brains. One with a healthy (thankful) memory and one with a toxic (grumpy) memory. The healthy memory shows light whereas the toxic one shows darkness. Thankfulness=light.

3. When I count my blessings, I count my family. Whether it is my nuclear family, my extended family, my church family or the family of believers I hold dear. They are worth counting!

4. I am thankful for transportation. It would be a long, hot walk to the grocery store, to get the kids, etc. if I didn't have my van or public transportation to rely on.

5. A recent statistic I read said that even the poorest American is wealthier than more than 80% of the rest of the world. Wow! How do you define wealth? Clean drinking water? Hot shower? Clean clothes? Shoes with soles? Toothbrush and toothpaste?

So many things to be thankful for today and tomorrow. Do your brain, yourself, and others around you a favor. Be thankful that the glass is half full, not grumpy that is half empty.

Thanking God for you today and thanking Him that He hears us when we count!

#countyourblessings #thankful #God #thankHim #healthy