July 8, 2011
Writing for 5 minutes brings many surprises and and equal number of OOOH’s.
Today’s prompt is GRATEFUL; this is one of my soap boxes.
go……
My first real pondering on being grateful began several years ago when I read ‘Simple Abundance’ by Sarah Ban Breathnach. Her steps toward an abundant life begins with gratitude; then adding order and simplicity to our lives brings harmony whose natural result is beauty and joy.
I realized gratitude started with my acceptance of the gift: sometimes with the deep sigh of “Okay, Lord” and sometimes with gladness.
Gratitude needed me to surrender my preconceived plans and ideas to be lasting, and for gratitude to be completely real, I needed to submit to God the acceptance and surrendering to the only ONE who really had all things under control.
Acceptance + surrender+commitment = Gratitude
Did you know gratitude and discontentment can’t live in the same heart?
stop……
Quote from book:
Both abundance and lack exist simultaneously in our lives, as parallel realities. It is always our conscious choice which secret garden we will tend … when we choose not to focus on what is missing from our lives but are grateful for the abundance that’s present-love, health, family, friends, work, the joys of nature, and personal pursuits that bring us pleasure –the wasteland of illusion falls away and we experience heaven on earth. Sarah Ban Breathnach
Thoughts of Grace 
“I realized gratitude started with my acceptance of the gift: sometimes with the deep sigh of “Okay, Lord” and sometimes with gladness.”
Yes. That’s it. Gratefulness is so much more than a feeling, isn’t it? I am learning that even when there are things I don’t feel grateful for, they are still things I should be grateful for. Everyday God shows me how gratefulness is an action word, not a feeling. Bless you, friend.
“Gratitude needed me to surrender my preconceived plans and ideas” – that is a daily exercise for me. Thank you for the reminder! (linked up at TheGypsyMama)
Surrender and contentment lead to graditude. You thought that out so well and it all came together in my mind. Thank you for that mental picture i can take with me. I loved that way you said, “Ok Lord” because that is sometimes how we have to let God take over as it is often just reisigning ourselves to His will rather than chasing after it.
As usual, dear friend, your words leave me with a smile and a nodding head…
“Acceptance + surrender+commitment = Gratitude” …How very true; a math problem I can get ahold of!