I love the cover of the journal I have right now. It says “Gratitude turns what we have into enough.”

Yep. And I’m not talking just about stuff, material things. Nope, it’s about so much more than that. Am thinking gratitude does change things in big ways. The cool thing is that oftentimes it doesn’t take big steps to make big changes.

Nope. It just takes little noticings (my new word) –little steps of awareness that lead to more awareness and joy that ends up lightening a load, encouraging a heart, and hopefully spreading a little fresh air around.

I am thinking we all need a little fresh air for sure. Sometimes the littlest of things can help us feel a fresh wind, a renewed spirit, a sense of joy. Sometimes we try so hard to do the big that we miss the little things in our midst. Gratitude helps us be in the moment.

I’m not into resolutions at the new year anymore…but I am into fresh air–fresh perspectives and trying new things with old stuff. The wind here in western North Carolina is blowing so freely today. It’s a bit overcast, but super warm for a January day. The sun keeps peeking through the clouds. The fresh wind, the clouds, the sun peeking through–these are all such a visual for me of a fresh start, fresh air, new beginnings.

Gratitude–well it helps me to not just see the wind, but feel it, not just see the sun, but experience the warmth of it, not just breathe the air, but breathe deeply and be thankful for even that. That’s one of my hopes for this new year–to walk in gratitude to God for whatever might come. And we all know that we probably have no clue of what might come, lol. The past two years have been case in point. But I can count on a few things for sure. The Bible says “His mercies are new every morning.” I can tap into that truth. The Bible also says if we are in Christ, we are a new creation. This is not because of what we do, the hoops we jump through, the things we don’t do, the good works or the list of accolades that tout our goodness. Nope, in Christ, the new is bought by what He did, not us. We humans seem to want to make things about us, but the Bible says, it’s all about a response to Him, who He is, what He did. He gets the glory, not us…and there’s so much beautiful freedom in that. Worship is just a response to acknowledging what is so worthy of praise. And I so believe that God is worthy of every ounce of praise…and my gratitude just points me back to him…the One who gives breath and life and so much beautiful purpose. Beautiful purpose with lots of hopes and goals–but not for me, for His glory.

So on this first day of January, this first day of 2022, am gonna smile and breathe and make a few lists of steps I can take–little teeny tiny steps that help me live fully with where I am right here, right now, rather than setting huge goals that might stress and make me miss the moments I’m in. I’m setting little teeny tiny goals, and one of them is to cling to an attitude of gratitude that helps me appreciate where I am-yep, right here, right now. Somehow, I think that will help me find the space and grace and motivation to move toward the next thing rather than beating myself up for not conquering a mountain of goals. If I’ve learned anything as a mom, as a teacher, as a human, it’s that big goals are broken down into little tiny steps. So I’m gonna be thankful for the little tiny steps on the journey. The irony is, I have a feeling I’ll have a lot more energy to get to the big mountain goals a lot quicker, and a lot more joyfully if I let what is, each little step along the way “be enough”.

Because, “gratitude turns what we have into enough”… Thankfully so. So on this first day of January, this first day of the new year, here’s to taking a moment to look around and look in the eyes of whoever is in your midst and just take a moment to be thankful for whatever you can. Somehow, the air gets a lot fresher for everyone around when we let gratitude in our hearts spill over a bit. A wonderful new day to you friends…and may the gratitude for each day lead to a wonderful, wonderful 2022.

Blessings~

Heather

p.s. this was intended to be a two sentence blog post but am hoping my “long-windedness” helped bring a little fresh air of encouragement lol. Have a great day!