Grateful Hearts

I have had some busy days over the past month. With busyness came so many things, but I have had the time to count blessings. I think this is important as I really believe that we have forgotten to do this as a society. Not everyone, but allot of us have.

Last Thursday I experienced a grateful heart. The entire day I could only feel ecstatic for all the wonderful people I have had the opportunity to meet. For those I've know for a while, I am thankful to have them in my life (even if I only get to see them every one or two years).

I am blessed in so many ways, a wonderful husband, two awesome kids, a great city where I can afford to live, schools my children can attend, grand parents for my kids, family I can hang out with (even the in-laws), the ability to work, the ability to play, the ability to feed my kids. It sounds like simple things, yet it has been a week of eye-opening as I run around and realize that we sometimes take these small things for granted. I have the tendency to get up-tight and frustrated with things easily and now I sometimes ask myself WHY? Is this something that really matters? Sometimes it is, and many times it does not, and so many others it can be a learning experience for both my children and myself if I choose to just not loose my temper and recognize the opportunity.

It is hard to have a grateful heart all the time, but I want to live here more. I want to experience life from this perspective more. It has to be a choice though. I was listening to a sermon the other day and she said 'it takes no effort to find the bad, you just have to wait and it will find you. You just have to do nothing for disease to find you. There is a choice involved for finding good. You have to choose health, this needs to be a conscious decision, then there needs to be an effort and an action.' How true when you think about it.

It strikes me as interesting; I find this to be a simple truth, and yet not so simple when you realize this is a choice we make every day. In the foods we eat, it does take longer to make our food rather than buy it already done. The activities we choose, taking our kids here and there (this can also be a great thing) yet we don't make the most of this time, or we don't find the time to do the activity with them. Small choices we make every day, and some of the time it is not a conscious decision it is just a habit of convenience.

This behaviour is learned in our society. We have been taught to consume and buy and to not think much further than our own comfort. It has to be a conscious decision when we stop to re-educate ourselves. I think about the movie "The Matrix". The scene where Neo is sitting in the chair and he needs to make a decision, one he can never go back from. Does he take the pill? or does he continue off into the blissful existence of not knowing? Once we know certain things, there really is no going back. Once we see the truth, it is some thing we can not turn away from.

This is all really heavy this morning so I think I will stop here and digest some breakfast and coffee. I will do so with a grateful heart as I watch my children enjoy the morning, and we watch the sun come out from behind the clouds.

Have a fantastic day.

Nicole