We started a Thanksgiving tradition in our home more than forty years ago for each person around the table to share something they were thankful for. In more recent years, I have asked our grandchildren what they are thankful for at other random times, not just a national holiday. It does my heart good when I hear the Grands say they are thankful for dress-up clothes, dinosaurs, pets, and Littlest Pet Shop toys. Smile!
What rhymes with Gratitude? Attitude!
Tecumseh, a Shawnee Indian chief, stated, “When you arise in the morning, give thanks for the food and for the joy of living. If you see no reason for giving thanks, the fault lies only in yourself.” Pretty strong words here, right? I believe he’s saying attitude is part of gratitude.
Cultivating an attitude of gratefulness is one of the best ways to remind ourselves of all the good around us. We foster a heart of gratitude when we count our blessings for what we already have. I’ve noticed the more I choose contentment, the easier it gets. When I exercise an appreciative attitude, my gratitude muscles respond.
When I was a young girl, my father, Walter Troyan, was our song leader at our acapella church. One of my favorite hymns he led our congregation in was “Count Your Blessings.” In our home, it was not at all unusual for our mother to say to all of us, “Count your blessings.”
When upon life’s billows you are tempest tossed,
When you are discouraged, thinking all is lost,
Count your many blessings, name them one by one,
And it will surprise you what the Lord hath done. (lyrics by Johnson Oatman)
With the Thanksgiving season upon us, I hope we can all look around at our blessings and cultivate an attitude of gratitude.
What are you thankful for? How do you express gratefulness? I’d love to hear from my readers. Open in your browser and scroll down to leave a comment. I read and reply to all comments.
Hi Becky – I know I’m more than a month behind in my response. I ponder this question quite a bit this time of year. I’m thankful to be able to see things (happy and sad) in a more appreciative perspective. I expect each year allows a broader perspective and I’ve been allowed enough of them to better appreciate life’s challenges and triumphs!
Hi Jean, I’m a work in progress for consistently having an appreciative perspective. It’s so important that we cultivate it and then to let it shine out in our lives.
Becky, you wrote beautifully on this important topic. When I saw the title of your piece, “What Rhymes with Gratitude?” my first thought was “latitude.” I wondered what you would have to say on THAT topic. Is this a sign that my “gratitude bank” is running low? Nice work!
Hi Debbie! Thank you for sharing. Honestly, I think we all need to keep refilling our gratitude banks, and of course, I think we can fill them faster when we have good attitudes!
This is so beautifully written with such an important message! Much Love, Linda
Thank you, Linda, for sharing. I agree, gratitude is such an important message these days. And one of the blessings I’m thankful for is our friendship we’ve had for so many years. I truly treasure it. Much love to you, too. And Happy Thanksgiving!
Thank you for this. It is a habit that I have been working to cultivate in my life. It makes me think of Thanksgiving that year we were quarantining for COVID. For 30 years or more, my sister and I had always gone to Brown County for Thanksgiving. That year we didn’t go and thought Thanksgiving would be a real downer for us. But that afternoon, we sat and decided we would start sharing things we were thankful for. 30 minutes later, during a year when we had been isolated and had given up so much, we finally ran out of things to say we were thankful for! We don’t go to Brown County anymore for Thanksgiving and we still sit and count our blessings.
Thank you for sharing, Phyllis. What a sweet and meaningful testimony. So glad you and your sister can still sit down together to do this. We really have much to be thankful for, that’s for sure.
I loved this post, Becky!!! I loved the autumn picture as well as the one of your parents!! I didn’t know that Tecumseh had originated that saying but I love it — we have so so much to be thankful for, and starting the day with praise and gratitude is a great idea!!! Blessings and Happy Thanksgiving to you and yours!!! 🙂
Blessings and Happy Thanksgiving to you and yours as well, Erma. You are right, we have much to be thankful for. So many blessings right before our eyes.