As she realized what might have been, she grew to be thankful for what was.
Elizabeth Gaskell, North and South
Yesterday, I was forced to face a regrettable truth. I publish my blog on Word Press. It has a feature allowing one to look up their past posts by topic. Yesterday, I researched the topic of gratitude. There was nothing listed. The closest concept was, abundance. While recognizing abundance is positive, it’s not the same as gratitude.
“How can that be?”, I thought. As I began to look back at my recent writing, it was true. I didn’t see a great deal of gratitude or thankfulness. I did find a lot of railing against the wrongs of society and regret for what should be done better. As my, fellow blogger, Brian wrote, “I have a bad feeling that God looks down and says to St Peter: “What’s with that Brian guy — complaining and whining again!!!” God must be saying something similar about me, sighing at my lack of gratefulness.
As I heard on the news recently, “Where is the joy?”I wondered about my own sense of joy. I’m not saying it’s wrong to point out life’s trials, yet there should be some balance. I believe we can appreciate the blessings in our lives and continue to work on what can be made better. One does not negate the other. As I take a walk through our neighborhood. I look at the scenery in the photo above and I live in a condition of gratitude. Gratitude for all the blessings in my life. I am grateful for God’s grace. Given without an expectation of thanks.
Aging with Grace 
5 responses to “Practicing Gratitude”
Something tells me that St. Peter is still shaking his head at me …. but smiling and laughing kindly with you at the craziness of life. And here’s the funny thing: Yes, you might not have gratitude as a WP keyword, but I read your Aging with Grace posts and I’m drawn to thankfulness, joy, and a passion for life. “A regrettable truth?” Nah, we’re each our own worst critic. Thank you for the reminder to look for gratitude and grace in life!!!! And thanks for the blog callout too! 🙂😎😎😎😎😎
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I count on you to put things in perspective. I found I can go through your website and see your blog. Why I can’t do it on Word Press? Who knows. You’re most welcome for the mention. ⭐️
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WP is crazy. I posted a piece today and I checked the WP Reader, but it didn’t show up anywhere. I scrolled and scrolled and couldn’t find it. I ended up pulling it back into draft mode and re-publishing and then it showed up. Weird. So you’re not able to “subscribe” to my blog. That’s weird.
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I think I was able to subscribe to your blog through the website option. We’ll see if your next blog is emailed to me. I still can’t like posts or comments on Word Press. I have to do it on email. 🙄
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Ugh. I’m so sorry that you’re having that problem. Takes the fun away. I haven’t heard that from anyone else, but when I’m back in front of my laptop later today, I’ll send a note to WP to see if they have any suggestions. Let me know if the website option works/doesn’t work!!! 😎
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