GRATITUDE

 There's a Bible study plan I use "The Little Bible Plan", it's a monthly study guide by an lady who goes by the name "Christian girls" on Instagram. So every month, we get tasks to accompany your daily devotions and for the month of November it was to write down daily, three things you're grateful to God for.  This taught me a couple of things. 

Firstly, I discovered that I certainly had not been giving God enough thanks like I was supposed to. After the first 3 to 5 days, I struggled with finding things to be grateful to God for, don't get me wrong, it's not like I'm not a grateful person, it's just that, I'm such a generaliser (that's not a real word) that by like the 6th day, I felt I had been grateful for everything. Then I began to actually think of things that I'd previously not considered reasons to be grateful, and I realized that I did have a lot to be grateful to God for and it's just that I hadn't brought my mind to think of those things. As November drew to a close, I discovered that for some days I'd have more than the three things I was supposed to write so my journal had "bonuses" so I could accommodate all the other things I wanted to thank God for each day. Believe me, I'm a more grateful person today 30th November than I was on the first. 

Secondly, I've realized that there are a lot of things that we take for granted that God does for us. Through out the month, I've seen subtle things that God does for me, things He's probably been doing for me all my life that I hadn't noticed, how He'll always come through for me at the very last minute and as I give Him thanks for these things, it comes to my mind that He's been doing things things and it's been "escaping" my notice all these while, well it doesn't anymore. I'm now at a point where I see every little thing God does for me and I'm immensely grateful for each one. There's a saying I've always loved it goes "thank God for small mercies". After having this saying in my head for so many years, I believe it's in this month I've come to really understand what it means and it brings the song "Count your blessings" home to me especially the part that says "count your many blessings, name them one by one, and it will surprise you what the Lord has done".  

Finally, in my gratitude journey this month, I've learned to be more appreciative of the things people do for me. This is not to say I've never been appreciative of what people do for me, it's just that now, I'm more grateful. Plus, it's helped me lose whatever little entitled mentality I may have had, and it's ultimately made me a better person. 

So, I'm throwing the challenge to you, for the next one month, I'm still going to be writing three things, at least, everyday I'm grateful for, so if you're interested and you want to join me, you're welcome to. By the end of December, you can tell me how your life has been affected by being more intentional about gratitude. 

Love,

Achenyo.