What does gratitude mean for me today?

I sat on the bed waiting. I ended up putting my legs against the wall, just for fun, and thanked Him. So much has happened and it has all been directly thanks to God. So much beauty, fun and things I had been hoping and praying to do have happened, are happening or are in the verge of happening. And Jesus is the reason behind it all! The only thing that saddens me is that I don't always realize and live like it.

This rainy day, I read a post by Peter Amsterdam on gratitude. It has made me think how I lack a passionate and deep cry of thanks to Jesus, as well as consistent sincere thank you's for the everyday wonder of living life, for this particular day and stage of my life. Giving thanks to the Maker is part of really living. I know it! I've experienced, yet why don't I do it always?

The truth is I don't deserve it, yet I'm guilty every day of taking it for granted. "Oh yes, I'm just engaged to the most awesome guy in the world." "Ah yes, I get to see amazing things take place in my best friend's lives, and I get to share some of life's greatest joys with them, in person...and be there for their sorrows" "Um, of course I can move everything in my body and enjoy great health, I'm young!" 

See what I mean by taking things for granted? What comforts me is that the more I reflect on my attitude of late and the more I dwell on all that I have to say thank you to God for, I just become more grateful by the minute. Thank God!

Finding myself taking things for granted made me imagine how I'd feel if everything was all gone, ALL... and then I got it back again! That's gratitude! That's a tight, earnest hug for God, who gives it all. 

The District of Columbia police auctioned off about 100 unclaimed bicycles Friday. “One dollar,” said the 11-year-old boy who was bidding on the opening bid for the first bike. The bidding, however, went much higher. “One dollar,” the boy repeated hopefully each time another bike came up.

The auctioneer, who had been auctioning the stolen bikes for 43 years, noticed that the boy’s hopes seemed to soar whenever a racer-type bike was put up.

Then there was just one racer left. The bidding went to eight dollars.

“Sold to that boy over there for nine dollars!” said the auctioneer. He took eight dollars out of his own pocket and he asked the boy for his one dollar. The youngster, he turned over his money in pennies, and nickels, and dimes, and quarters, and he took the bike, and started to leave. But he only went a few feet. And carefully parking his possession, he went back, and gratefully threw his arms around the auctioneer’s neck, and he cried.

We should ask ourselves, “When was the last time I felt gratitude as deeply as this boy?”

Thomas S. Monson, “Think to Thank,” Ensign, Nov. 1998, 18.

I'm sure you have something precious, priceless, meaningful to thank God for today.

What to Do When You May or May Not be a Control Freak

Ann Voskamp invited Mark Buchanan to her farm's porch and I would love to share with you what she shared here:

“Like a city whose walls are broken down, is a man who lacks self-control.”  (Proverbs 25:28)

I was in a coffee shop the other day and a mom announced to her little guy – maybe 2 and a half years old – that it was time to leave.
Little Guy didn’t want to leave.
At first he ignored her, then he defied her, then he assailed her.
To her credit, she remained calm.
She spoke quietly. She stood her ground. She didn’t bargain.
In the end, magnificently composed, she carried Little Guy out the door, a wild banshee of a boy, thrashing and wailing as he went.
It got me thinking about the difference between control and self-control.
These two things – control and self-control – stand at opposite ends of the maturity spectrum.
The toddler was a live-action reel of a fierce effort to control his mother.
And he was a spectacle of immaturity.
The mom was a breathtaking portrait of impeccable self-control. And she was the epitome of maturity.
Toddlers brim with the impulse to control (even as they bungle the execution). A 3-year-old will resort to wild-eyed tantrums, incessant whining, ear-piercing screams, coy manipulation, and flat-out demand to try to get their way: to control their parent, or sibling, or playmate, or the situation at hand.
But as the toddler’s attempts to control things escalate, his ability to control himself deteriorates. His need to be in control makes him more and more out-of-control. The results are not pretty.
This all looks different in adults – usually.
Of course, we’ve all met 28- or 33- or 59-year olds (sometimes in the mirror) who, in an increasingly desperate effort to control people or situations, throw tantrums, power up, make threats, emotionally blackmail, withdraw into icy silence, and so on.
But most of us, by age 19 or so, have an epiphany of sorts: that the louder we shout, the less others listen.
That the more we manipulate, the further others back away.
That the more we toss a fit, the more others look at us and think, “What a sad strange little man,” or, “What a drama queen.”
That’s the epiphany.
But what we do with it matters a great deal. It determines whether we really grow up or not.
The truly wise become deeply humble. They realize that the only kind of control the Bible endorses – indeed, commands – is self-control.
The New Testament has 16 separate exhortations to be self-controlled. It’s a major theme.
So the wise heed that, and work with the Holy Spirit to get a grip on themselves. They receive the comfort, the rebuke, the strength, and the instruction of God himself to discipline their thoughts, emotions, attitudes, and actions.
They give up trying to control others and step up being in control of themselves.
The lovely irony is that the self-controlled exert wide influence. People listen to them. Heed them. Seek them. Follow them.
In other words, the self-controlled accomplish the very thing the controlling desperately want but only ever sabotage.
Here’s what I’ve learned: Every impulse to seize control — is the Holy Spirit’s invitation to practice self-control.
Every nerve jolt to freak out, melt down, start yelling, fly into rage or panic is a divine cue to slow down, breathe deep, start praying, and lean into God.
Every instinct to control something is God’s nudge to control myself.
I don’t always get it right. When I don’t, I not only lose self-control: I lose influence. I lose respect. I lose dignity.
When I do get it right, I gain all around.
Lord, help me get a grip on myself.

"Every impulse to seize control — is the Holy Spirit’s invitation to practice self-control."