Today I spent the better part of the day doing laundry.  And I was struck, not for the first time but again, at how grateful I was for washing machine and dryer. Without them the process of doing laundry would take a lot longer and be a lot harder.  When I was in Kenya I had to do some laundry via a washboard and line drying.  It gave me a greater appreciation for 1) those who do laundry that way and 2) my washer and dryer. Next time I'm tempted to complain about doing laundry I'm hoping today's gratitude attitude reminds me to, well, not complain.  :)

I love spices and seasonings.  I'm grateful for them because they add flavor and depth to my cooking and baking. They enhance the flavors already present in the food, they make them "pop".

I was thinking earlier today about choices.  I'm grateful for choices, although sometimes I think we have too many.  I was thinking today about the choices I have, that any of who live in a developed country have.  I think most of the time instead of being grateful for the choices I have I take them for granted, I forget that others in this world don't have the choices I have.  Today, however, I felt myself reflecting on all the choices I had even just today - choices in creamer flavors, music, TV shows, foods, the list goes on and on.  I'm grateful for choices and I'm trying to be mindful of not taking them for granted and pursuing ways to see other people have choices as well.

Today driving to work in the thick-as-pea-soup fog this morning I was, again, grateful for my corrective lens, i.e. glasses. :)  I got them a few years back for distance, watching TV, driving at night.  But I find, as I get older, I need them more and more and once I put them on I am always grateful all over again for them. They truly help me see clearer, they sharpen what I am looking at, they even can give me perspective on something I didn't see very clearly at first look.  I am grateful for the ability to afford the glasses so I can see as clearly as possible - I'm pretty sure other people, like drivers, are glad I can see clearer also!

I am grateful for promises made and kept.  And the only one I have found that can make and keep promises 100% of the time is...well not me.  (*You* thought I was going to say me didn't you, ha fooled you!)  The only one who can make and keep promises 100% of the time is the One who created promises and is faithful to carry them out.  One that I was thinking about today, although I think about it often, is this one: " I am confident that the Creator, who has begun such a great work among you, will  not stop in mid-design but will  keep perfecting you until the day Jesus the Anointed,  our Liberating King, returns to redeem the world ."  The human speaker is the Apostle Paul but the author of that promise is God himself.  He planted those words in Paul's mouth to speak out.  Paul was just the messenger.  I have been so grateful for that particular promise over the years.  I'm not going to be left undone, incomplete, unfinished. I will be brought through and to comp

Most of us know shalom as peace but in reality, it's true-at-the-core-meaning is actually deep peace. A friend commented to me about shalom recently in regards to me and it made me think of how grateful I am for shalom in my life when I have it.  And when I don't have shalom in my life how lost and unmoored I feel. It is possible to have shalom in life even when surface circumstances aren't so peaceful. Shalom has to do with the inner person, the soul.  The soul can be at deep peace even when the world around the soul is in turmoil.  I'm grateful for when I have that and when I don't? I do what it takes to regain shalom in my life, in my soul.

Leaning on Ann Voscamp's Joy Dares a bit for today's. I read some really good books over the past weekend and some tidbits of wisdom popped up in their pages and made me grateful that I came across the words, several days later and I'm still chewing on bits and pieces - that's when you know it is good stuff!  I'm grateful for thought provoking things hiding in all sorts of places.  A few bits of wisdom that have me thinking: "An owl is the wisest of all birds because the more it sees the less it talks." African Proverb While this is an African proverb so therefore most likely published in multiple ways and places, I ran across it in "Tiny Sunbirds, Far Away" by Christie Watson.  "Periods in the wilderness or desert were not lost time.  You might find life, wildflowers, fossils, sources of water." Anne Lamott, Stitches: A Handbook of Meaning, Hope, and Repair "Yes, my soul, find rest in God;  my hope comes from him.  Truly

Sometimes we dread or despise the plan "b".  You know what I mean by plan "b", the alternate, not as ideal plan *you* have to move to because plan "a" clearly isn't going to happen.  But I have found there to be a lot of grace, and joy, in plan "b".  Oh at first it might suck but eventually the grace and joy of it surfaces and you discover that like Garth Brooks you too are thankful for unanswered prayers .  *grin*  Plan "b" is being grateful for unanswered prayers.  It is knowing, recognizing, understanding that Someone knows something you don't and knows that plan "b" is actually the ideal, not plan "a".  I'm grateful for plan "b".  I can look back on my life and see how plan "b" was actually plan "a" all along.

I've mentioned my Sundays before . I'm so grateful for them. And even though my work situation has changed and I'm not at the front desk interacting as much I still need my Sundays, maybe now more than I did then.  Now I'm working full time and so its added a need for downtime in my life.  I'm so grateful for the chance on my Sundays to breathe.  I get a minimum of 6 hours all by myself on Sundays.   Bliss .  Sometimes that looks like grocery shopping, cleaning, or cooking.  Or other times it has looked like I am a lump on the couch and I gorge on either TV/Movies or Reading or sometimes its a mix of both!  I sometimes don't even turn on my phone and I am on social media very little, I truly try to breathe by unplugging the ways I know I need for sanity.  It makes for a happier, more joyful, rested in spirit Beth and the people in my life are probably pretty grateful for that .  :)

I love vegetables and because I do I am very, very, very grateful for them.  I'm grateful for them not only because I happen to think they are delicious but because they provide nutrition as well.  So delicious, nutritious vegetables are my Gratitude Attitude today.  :)  

No, I'm not a  lush because I am grateful for wine.  I'm just smart.  *grin* But seriously, I am grateful for wine.  I happen to enjoy it and today I savored a new one I recently tried and I love it.  In moderation, wine helps me de-stress a little (take the edge off of being so wound up all the time), it actually helps me sleep really good (yes, even with just one glass!), and (confession) it makes me feel like a grown-up which frankly I rarely feel like one!  HA!  I don't know why exactly I am grateful for wine, I just am.  And to celebrate wine here are a couple of funnies that give me the giggles every single time. Look closely at the picture if you didn't catch it at first glance. Tee hee hee The whole thing is worth listening to for a good laugh but especially listen in at 4:00. HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA! That's my "new" motto...*grin*

So I'm working a full time job with benefits for the first time since I was married.  I kinda forgot about the perks of working full time - like a paycheck, medical benefits, vacation time - you know the little things. *grin* I really don't care too much about those sorts of things and so because of that I kind of forget about them most of the time.  I knew I had vacation time but I thought it was date of hire "year" rather than calendar year.  SURPRISE!  It's calendar year which I found out just 4 days ago.  Yep, I've got 68 hours of time to use or lose by December 31.  WOW!!  So I put in for time off per my boss and still have 28 hours to use or lose.  Raise your hand if you think I'm probably going to lose some hours. *hand held high in air*  But how cool is that?  I feel so grateful that next year I can take a mental health day here and there, there's a few "spiritual health" days I plan on taking as well.  And I can get paid for them.  S

I'm kind of obsessed with my slippers.  I now take them with me places.  I have strategized how to get away with wearing them at work.  I pretty much always have my slippers with me.  My slippers are the last thing to be taken off and the first thing put on.  Season doesn't matter, I love them equally summer or winter and the in-betweens (which here in Colorado we basically have summer and winter and no in-between).  I love the particular kind that I have so much that when Kohl's puts them on sale (it's where I have found them) and I happen to be there already I will buy a couple of pairs to have in reserve!  I always have my favorite kind of slipper ready! I am being serious when I say I am grateful for my slippers!  They are like a comfort blanket to me.

Sometimes it's the little things and in this case it's also a first world kind of thing.  Today I found myself feeling grateful for scented hand soaps!  And really you can go ahead and throw in there scented shower gels and body lotions!  I felt odd the moment the gratitude for them presented but I figure I'll just go with it!  *shrugs shoulders*  I really do love using scented hand soaps...when they smell good that is!  :)

Today is Lanny's birthday (my husband).  He's 51 years young.  When Lanny was 32 and I was 20 we started dating and less than a year later, when I was a brand new 21 and he was cruising up on 33, we married.  I moved from my parents home to his, I tell people he had to finish raising me. :)  I'm grateful for Lanny and his life.  Even if we weren't married I would be saying that.  Lanny is an living example of God's grace - God has saved his life more than once and because of that he is a devoted dad and a faithful husband.  His quiet nature makes people feel comfortable and safe.  His patience (except in driving *grin*) is appreciated.  He's so quiet you don't realize he's got a great sense of humor, he always surprises people with his humor.  Despite the hard things life has thrown our way Lanny has remained steadfast.  Grateful for this man who is part of my life.

I happen to have pretty awesome Grandparents and I'm very blessed to have three of the four still living. My maternal grandma passed away in 2007.  You can read about her here .  My grandparents have always done what they could to stay involved.  They traveled to us, brought us to them, sent cards, etc.  And I love that my children, their great-grandchildren, are getting to know them and have relationship with them as well.  It absolutely prompts me to gratitude for my grandparents and what they have meant to me and what they now mean to my children as well.

Today I feel grateful for community.  I have several little communities that I am blessed to be in and the one that made me feel grateful today was my home church community.  We've been experiencing some "growing pains" and walking through some questions together and in the past few months I can really see how we are growing closer to one another in really solid ways.  Each week we study God's word in depth together, we literally break bread together (have a meal), and we serve together in various ways.  Today we had great conversation about the Ten Commandments and I sat there feeling so grateful for this chance to be with this group of people for this time.  How about you?  Do you have community you feel grateful for?  If not, I encourage you to seek out community - you will be blessed!

At my work Christmas party tonight one of the employees gave a talk, and showed a video, about generosity.  The video was really thought provoking and the comments my fellow co-worker made about generosity got me to thinking about how grateful I am for people in my life who are generous with me.  They are generous with their grace toward me, with their love, with their counsel, with their time, with their possessions, with their own hearts, and there are other ways people in my life are generous toward me. How blessed I am, how grateful I am for people who care enough about me to invest in to me.   On the flip side, I am grateful for the ways in which God calls me to be generous and for the times when I actually heed the call. :)   Here's the video, what are your thoughts about it?  (Yes, it's a couple years old but still relevant.)

Today I'm choosing to have a Gratitude Attitude for the ways in which I know God loves me. 1)  It's not condition based.  For example, I don't have to be on my best behavior for God to love me. 2)  It is relentless.  God's love doesn't stop coming after me, or you for that matter. 3)  It is complete.  His love is the most complete "thing" I, and you, will ever possess in my life.  God's love rounds me out and completes me.

I'm super grateful for garages, you know those things designed to store our cars in and not other belongings. :)  Okay, well Lanny and I actually use our garage for the purpose it was intended, the cars.  And boy, on days like today - and apparently the rest of this week - I am super glad for our garage.  I am very grateful I am not outside in sub zero temps scraping off the car so I can try and start it and drive it.  (It's illegal in our state to pre-warm your vehicle...but...)  When the winds is blowing, the snow is flying, the rain is falling I am grateful for our garage.

I've talked about work ethic before .  But today I felt grateful for the work ethic I have.  I have a pretty high sense of it thanks to my parents.  And honestly it helps me get things done even when I don't feel like getting things done, you know?  My work ethic helps keep me on track, both in my job and in my home.  It does kind of drive some people crazy but I'm guessing my bosses have always appreciated it. :)  I have been grateful for it, I like being a productive member of something and my work ethic helps me with that productivity.

This is actually a long standing gratitude attitude.  I'm grateful for leaves that dance along the ground as the wind propels them.  It's a weird thing to be grateful for but it makes me grateful because it helps me to be in tune to other small acts of nature. Things I might miss because I'm too busy and too focused on the bigger, and perhaps more insignificant, things.  Have you ever watched the leaves dance along the ground?  They swirl here and there, to and fro, and are dancing to the tune the wind creates.  It's really quite lovely and for this girl it makes my heart well up in gratitude.  What about you?  What small act of nature makes you grateful?

I am grateful today for lazy days.  A day to do whatever I want, whether that's cleaning or watching mindless TV or reading or napping, or cooking or...whatever!  The older I get the more I believe in taking a lazy day "now and then" as an adult mental health kind of day.  I know I need them, I bet *you* do to. *wink*

No, not the book or movie. :)  The actual color purple. I not only love the color purple, I am grateful for it. Sounds weird right? It's not as weird when you hear my reason why.  The color purple reminds me of who I belong to and whose I am.  It reminds me that I am royalty, not of this earth but of the One who created this earth.  It reminds me that I need to act like royalty, both in my heart and on the surface of my life.