Finding Thankfulness In The Every Day
Time and time again, I have seen how thankfulness makes life rich. When we take the time to count the gifts we have, it's like painting colour in our perspective. It speaks life and courage into our bones to keep on going and to live life well.
We forget. It takes reminders like post-it notes, writing it down, saying it out loud to convince us again. To remind us how blessed we really are.
It is beautiful when we begin to be thankful for the little moments and the big moments. For the little things and the earth-shattering ones. For the journey and the arrival.
When we start to get a genuine thankfulness in our hearts for sunny days and starry nights. Thankfulness for the smell of lavender and the foaming of bubbles. For hot coffee and a fist-pumping song. For gentle giggles and happy voices.
It becomes beautiful because it changes our perspective. When Jesus stood in front of a hungry crowd with only a few fish and loaves of bread, he gave thanks for what He did have. It was in that moment that what He had multiplied to feed an entire crowd.
Maybe we look at our lives and think,”I only have a few things here.” But as we give thanks, those little things begin to multiply, and not just for us, but it is for many.
There are some things we can set up in our lives to help us practice gratitude more intentionally.
Get a gratitude journal. Buy a notebook and as you think of things that you’re thankful for, write them down. A great resource for this is the book “One Thousand Gifts” by Ann Voskamp.
Put reminders on your phone. Set up reminders or alarms in your cell phone and have it pop as a question, “What are you thankful for right now?”
The beauty of post-it notes. Place post-it notes somewhere you look every day, like a bathroom mirror or the inside of your closet.
A lot of families at Thanksgiving will go around the table at dinner and talk about what they’re thankful for. What if you did that more than once a year? What if you did that once a week?
What are you thankful for today? What are the gifts God has put in your life?
About This Sweet Family
This is Amy, Ryan and their sweet son, Cole. They wanted to capture natural moments of their family together. You can tell how thankful they are for each other by looking at their images. There is so much love in their lives! We actually got together for an extended family session, but there were so many great immediate family images that I felt they deserved their own blog post. xo
Feeling a bit overwhelmed by parenthood?
Hi there, I'm Karen! I am obsessed with newborn baby yawns, giggling kids, and fancy flavoured tea. I'm a mama of four who understands the busyness of everyday life and I've learned how to embrace and enjoy the beauty of it through lifestyle photography. I know what it’s like to look back on my children’s first years and feel like they flew by so quickly. I don’t want any other mamas to forget what their baby’s little fingers and toes looked like all curled up. My hope is that I can help you create albums and prints to serve as physical reminders of these sweet times throughout your baby’s early years. Contact me for info.
