I cannot believe we are already finishing up the first month of this journey. It feels like I was just sitting on the couch last night when the Lord asked me to step in to this shift of heart and begin to walk in a renewed mind filled with gratefulness. And I'm learning that when I walk in a renewed mind, that is aligned with the Lord, I see the beauty in life... not just mine, but also the lives of the people around me.
Learning to live by scripture and not just read it is a daily choice... just like asking the Lord to do a work in your life and actually allowing Him to. Sometimes we say with our mouths that we want change, but our actions say "I'm fine right where I am.”And most of the time we are allowing our subconscious to choose. Our hearts really do long for change, but we've allowed our flesh to have so much control that we can't break through. That's why it's so important to renew our minds daily, positioning ourselves to be empowered by the Holy Spirit to make the choices that will bring fruit to our lives.
That's a lot of "how it should be" talk - I get it! So how do we get from that "should be" and make it a tangible "is"? Well thanks for asking... let me share some of the things I'm learning through on my journey:
1) CHOOSE: It's not a lie to choose to be grateful even when you do not FEEL grateful as you walk through this journey. Why? Because you are making the choice to change those natural feelings. When you start searching for things to be grateful for you are saying to your mind "THIS IS IMPORTANT AND THIS IS WHAT YOU NEED TO DWELL ON!" Take command and push through those feelings!
2) PRACTICE: In the beginning it will feel like you're faking your way through... THAT IS OK! It's called practice, and practice makes perfect. You're not going to just wake up one day and be the best NBA or WNBA basketball star out there... nah, it's going to take work! You're going to grow in the areas that you give time and attention to. Just like in a garden, if you are not spending time watering and pruning and fertilizing, you are not going to get much of a harvest. So, if you want to be grateful and live a life of gratefulness, spend time on it and put energy in to it!
3) PRAY!: I can't emphasize this one enough! We literally cannot do this on our own. We are weak and gratefulness is not a natural response. We have to pray. We have to ask the Lord of Heaven and earth, the Creator of all things to help us. He knows us, He knows our hearts, and He knows what we need to do this. One of my favorite things to pray is:
"Lord, I'm stuck! My mind wants to think differently than what You have
asked me to think about. Please align me in this. Align me with Your Spirit! Help me to
breathe in gratefulness and to exhale gratefulness back into this world. I want to produce
good fruit and I can only do it with Your leading and help. Amen!"
4) BE AWARE: We live in a fast paced, busy world. It's super easy to skip through the day without going very deep. I know for me sometimes I get in bed at night and think "oh goodness the day is already over?" Time can be a cruel game, especially when you have a lot to fit in to it. BUT it is important that we stop and recognize what is going on around us. It grounds us. It helps us to realize there is a lot more good going on then we are giving credit to. And that leads to my last thought...
5) ACKNOWLEDGE: Recognizing the good going on around us, in us, through us, etc, is an important part of the process. But if we recognize it and don't acknowledge it we're wasting an opportunity to grow. One of the ways I like to acknowledge those things I'm finding myself being grateful for is obviously my journal. The process of writing down whats happening in this journey has really helped shift my thinking. It is helping me to cement in me all the things I'm doing in the previous steps.
I know that's a lot to read through for a quick blog. But when I started this a month ago I really had not strategy except for that last step I shared. I knew I was going to write it down, but I didn't know how I was going to walk through the daily, moment-by-moment part of this journey. I'm finding that the more I walk, the more I learn. And being an Enneagram 1, when I learn something I like to share it with others so they can learn from my mistakes and victories.
I'll leave you with a few of my entries this week. Until next week my friends!
Things I was grateful for this week:
- My comfy bed and couch as I recovered from a dental fiasco (lol)
- Strengths and gifts inside of each of us. We make the world better when we use them.
- Social media... though it can be a distraction, it also connects us with people and gives us the opportunity to pray specifically for each other.
"Grateful: (adjective)
warmly or deeply appreciative of kindness or benefits received; thankful" - Dictionary.com
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