A Month of Thanks - Day 1

So I have this "joy journal" and I have to say I've been incredibly slack with it...not because I don't have any joys to write about, because I do...but something that I've learned I really lack sometimes is that little thing called 'self-discipline'.  I think my last entry was like, oh over a month ago - oops.


Therefore I'm going to challenge myself to blog every day this month about something that I'm thankful for.  Feel free to join me if you wish.  I've heard that when we focus on things we're thankful for it can make life sweeter, and for me, it draws my eyes upward to God because it reminds me why I'm thankful in the first place.  In fact, God basically commands us to be thankful if you read Colossians 3:15 the same way I do.  "Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, since as members of one body you were called to peace.  And be thankful."

That's not a "be thankful only when you feel like it" kind of a sentence.  Nor is it a "please oh please just be thankful for crying out loud" sentence either.  It's stated quite simply, BE thankful.  Meaning all the time, in all things, we are to be thankful.  When is the last time I (any of us) was thankful when I was running late...or when traffic was standing still...or when no mail came for me today...or when dinner burned...or something was lost...or someone was hurting.  Was I thankful then?  Knowing me, I highly doubt it.

But God says through Paul in 1 Thessalonians 5:16-18 "Rejoice always, pray continually, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is God's will for you in Christ Jesus."

Wow.  I need to let that sink in...

Ya'll, following that is freakin' hard!  I can sit here and easily type it all day long but seriously...it's so challenging to always rejoice and pray and be thankful.  I feel like my heart has a lot of room to grow here.  With all that said, I'd like to start some of that growth by simply saying that today I'm thankful for SUNSHINE.  After Sandy came through (which barely affected eastern TN in comparison to many other states), I was so happy to drive with my shades on today.  She brought nothing but (really) cold weather and low, snowy blanket-like clouds.  Eew.  I don't mind a snow here and there, but in October...I can't handle that.  I'm southern to the bone.  Anything below 60 degrees is cold.  In all seriousness, I'm so thankful that God created sunlight and that He let me enjoy that delicious vitamin D today:)  It was just the pick-me-up I needed to kick off November 1.

What about you?  What are you thankful for?