Harvesting Gratitude

Counting our blessings for the good things that we have is easy, finding gratitude in events that impact us negatively is considerably more challenging, and requires a bit more effort.  The harvest is the most labor-intensive aspect of the growing cycle, but it is the one that reaps the bounty.  This is effort that pays off.

My husband is one of the thousands of “non-essential” government employees that have been effectively laid off due to the government shutdown.  When he was sent home early on the first day, I was shocked.  Then I spent the next five days being alternately (and sometimes simultaneously) worried, frustrated, and angry.  And then I paused for a moment.  I thought about the ways my attitude was affecting me and my family, I thought about the stress that I was essentially putting us all through by choosing to make negativity my reality.  Certainly unemployment is our current reality, but misery doesn’t have to be.

So I decided to find and focus on at least one thing every day that was positive about the way this shutdown is affecting my family.  A single gift that is in each 24-hour period that my husband remains without his job.  An ongoing daily expression of gratitude for a decidedly un-blessing-like circumstance.  (He has more time to spend with the boys.  We have the opportunity to sleep in on Saturdays.  He is home for dinner with us nightly…) Some days this has been easier than others – some days it has been downright challenging – but each day I have managed to find them.

Without exception, every day has beautiful moments.  When we actively seek and live those, we are rewarded with a bountiful harvest of the spirit.  When we consistently choose to be grateful, every experience holds a gift.

~ Christiana

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