100 Reasons for Gratitude

How many reasons do you have for gratitude?

When my daughters were young our dinner pray was simple:  “Thank-you God for happy hearts, for rain and sunny weather.  Thank-you God for the food we eat and that we are together.”  An attitude of gratitude is an important life skill I wanted to pass on to my children.

Without gratitude, coping with life’s lows can be unbearable.  Even in our darkest moments we have so much for which to be grateful.  Our worst day is better than poor families in war torn countries. Our worst day is better than villagers in many African countries with no running water.  Our worst day is better than what many migrant workers who tend the fields in this country endure.  When we lose sight of all that’s right in our life, we open the door to depression, self-pity and loss of vision of what God is doing around us.  Lack of gratitude opens us to an emotional death spiral.

With the new year upon us, I challenge you to take stock of all that is right in your life.  If you’ve never taken stock before, it may take awhile but it’s worth the effort.   No item is too small.  If you’re having trouble – just turn on the nightly news!  Another source of ideas is anytime you pick something up or take an action,  ask yourself what life would be like without that item or action. If its something you enjoy having, its probably a candidate for gratitude – no matter how small or silly.   For example, I don’t have “dental floss” on my list, but I know it would be on my wife’s.  She hates stuff between her teeth and probably flosses twice a day!  Floss is a reason for gratitude!

Let your list ramble!  Let one item lead to another.  Your list doesn’t need to be logical or ordered.  It just needs to be your list.

Below is my list.   It probably looks nothing like your list and that’s OK.

1. Relatively good health
2. Heart medicine
3. A warm house
4. Air conditioning in the summer
5. A place to live
6. Electricity
7. Light at night
8. Running water
9. Sewers, toilets, clean soft toilet paper!
10. Running hot water
11. Drinkable water
12. Working dishwasher
13. No leaks in the roof
14. A dry bed
15. A comfortable bed
16. Copious blankets on my bed
17. A comfy pillow
18. Working refrigerator
19. Food in the refrigerator
20. Fresh fruit
21. Summer fruit in winter
22. Grocery stores with food
23. A wonderful wife
24. A healthy wife
25. Good in-laws
26. Healthy children
27. Adult children living on their own
28. Happy children
29. No domestic violence in my family
30. A car that starts
31. Good roads to transport goods
32. Safe roads to drive 500 miles to visit my daughter
33. Money, time, health to visit daughter
34. Daughter that wants me to visit
35. My job
36. Job benefits
37. Ability to pay all bills on time
38. Money in the checkbook after paying bills
39. Extra money to donate
40. Cleveland Metro park
41. Time to hike
42. Physical strength to hike
43. Warm clothes
44. Clean clothes
45. Clothes to clean!
46. Working washer & dryer in basement
47. Hiking shoes
48. Dress shoes
49. Shoes that fit without holes
50. Warm socks
51. Dinner with loved ones
52. No missing loved ones
53. Safe loved ones
54. No military personnel patrolling my street
55. No bombs exploding around me
56. No worry of landmines when I walk
57. No roving gangs of para-military
58. Prayer
59. Freedom to pray in public
60. Communal pray without violence
61. My notebook with software
62. Wi-fi
63. Internet at home
64. Streaming movies at home
65. My smartphone
66. Income to afford internet, smartphone, etc.
67. Friends to text with
68. Family that replies to my text messages
69. Eyesight
70. Reading glasses
71. Ample books to read
72. Good hearing
73. Music
74. Gifted musicians
75. Ability to sing (even if others tell me to stop)
76. The desire to sing
77. No depression
78. Anti-depression medicine
79. People who listen
80. A positive mental attitude
81. Sleep without fear or nightmares
82. The morning sun on my face
83. Cold weather in winter ( a normal season )
84. Crackling fireplace
85. No fire destroying my house
86. A good fire department
87. Police
88. EMS
89. Good emergency hospital care
90. Pictures of family – happy memories
91. Good parents
92. Time with my grandparents
93. Squirrels, birds, raccoons, chipmunks (signs of a safe environment)
94. Stable government
95. Relatively low taxes
96. Garbage collection services
97. Good library
98. Comfortable reading chair
99. Coffee & Tea
100. Good glass of wine
101. Honeybees and honey ( I have a hive in my yard!)
102. Ability to recognize things for which I’m grateful.

Well that’s my list of over 100 reasons for gratitude.  Again, your list will be different.  Probably very different and that’s OK!

Happy New Year!

Image courtesy of Stuart Miles at FreeDigitalPhotos.net