Gratitude Journal Monday

Try not to invite hardship into your life, but sometimes the unwelcomed guest makes an appearance at your door with pounding knuckles and you just have to let it in. Like any uninvited guest, you make the best of it and count the days, hours, minutes, until it leaves, hoping the pieces left behind in its wake are still salvageable in recreating a life you've come to recognize, find comfort in, and adore. But, isn't it always refreshing when you take that clear sigh of relief when hardship passes. It's because of the hardship that your world is fresher and more appreciated. It's like when you have a nasty, nasal-congested cold. You can't breathe, your mouth gets dry because oxygen only has that one inlet due to the detour sign at your nasal passages. You lay in bed and you think about how nice breathing used to be before you caught this nasty cold. You vow never to take breathing for granted ever again. You bare down to the simplicity of being and doing, that hardship has stripped from you. Yet, when it's all over, you come out of it more appreciative and that's why hardship must be let in. It balances out life when things get a bit too comfortable and gratitude falls to the wayside. Be strong. Do you hear any knocks at your door? Open it with the confidence of knowing it's only for a moment.

So much to be grateful for this week of Thanksgiving. Please join me and share your gratitude declarations.

346. I am grateful that, through hardships and challenges, our gratitude for the simple and basic increases.
347. I'm so grateful to my son who shows me daily, what life is really all about.
348. I am thankful my rigidity is fading away as my wrinkles become deeper and I grow wiser - it's a trade worth making.
349. I appreciate the beautiful, consecutive days of sunshine and good weather we've enjoyed.
350. I am grateful I only have to drive 2 more days, back and forth to school - woo-hoo!

Happy week, friends, and safe travels in your journey.