gratitude

the older i get, the more i am convinced. gratitude is the key to all longevity, and mental wellness.

it is the cure for familiarity, entitlement, disappointment, discouragement, self-pity, anger, jealousy, apathy and anxiety. there are more, but that should cover most of the things that ail us.

think about it.

we are robbed by ungratefulness. when we feel we deserve more, we get angry or disappointed - it a gratitude issue. maybe this why David said "it is better to be a doorkeeper in the house of the Lord than to dwell in the tents of the wicked". (Ps. 84:10)

he was just glad to be there. so it makes me wonder...am i?

why do i hesitate to give my heart?

why do i withhold time, affection, attention because i forgot what it was like to feel like i was on the outside looking in. am i still grateful for all that He has done for me?

do i still have a heart for the lonely, now that i am not lonely?

do i still have a heart for the aching heart, now that my heart is not aching?

and to these questions i would say, it depends on how grateful i am.

but i also learned in those seasons of loneliness, and aching that i needed to be grateful - not for what i had, but because of who He is. His love never fails, it never gives up. even when i didn't see my circumstances changing, it was still my job to be grateful. and if i couldn't thank Him for the things i couldn't see, there is no way i would have been grateful when i could see them.

there were days that it was so hard, that i literally just said "thank you that i have feet".

i couldn't think of anything else, but i KNEW  i needed to be grateful. so, sometimes it was feet. and even still - some people don't even have feet, and they still have to be grateful. that is what makes them heroes to the rest of us who have everything and we are still unhappy.

the worst thing is, try to tell a room full of 18-25 year olds that this is truth, but if they are not grateful to receive the truth, it cannot set them free.

i feel my own conviction kicking in here...i have been overwhelmed this week. of course i am grateful to be pregnant, but i am starting to imagine trying to wrangle four children under 3 when these little bundles arrive sometime in the late spring. and i am telling myself, as i am writing to the big blogging world, that He will not give us more than we can handle and i have to fight to stay in a place of gratitude and away from anxiety and fear.

i am thankful tonight, not just for my feet, but for the other 5 sets of feet that now make up the Harvey family.