“Gratitude unlocks the fullness of life. It turns what we have into enough, and more. It turns denial into acceptance, chaos into order, confusion into clarity….  It turns problems into gifts, failures into success, the unexpected into perfect timing, and mistakes into important events.  Gratitude makes sense of our past, brings peace for today and creates a vision for tomorrow.”   Melodie Beattie

When is the last time you counted your blessings?

Lord, accept my grateful thanks…  (Psa. 119:108a, NLT)

As soon as I got up this morning, I knew I had done it.  As my mother used to say, “You must have gotten up on the wrong side of the bed this morning.”  I never could figure out which side of the bed she was referring to, but I sure knew I was guilty as charged this morning.  

I had a strong recollection of what I was dreaming about when I awoke.  The dream was far from a nightmare, but it was one of those times when you just felt lousy about what was happening in the dream.  Then I couldn’t get it out of my mind.  

I came into the office to pray…I knew I had to stop thinking about that dream, but I just kept coming back to it and feeling crummy.  I’ve learned that all too often, what we think about magnifies.  I had to become “master” over my thoughts.  This was not going well at all.

All of a sudden, the idea came to me that I should begin to list everything that I could think of that I was grateful for at the moment.  Within three or four minutes, I was on a roll.  And since you can’t think of two things at once, the dream and all of its yucky feelings were soon gone.  How easy was that?  Frankly, now, just a couple of hours since all this happened, I can’t for the life of me, remember what that goofy dream was all about.  

A bright fellow named Alfred Painter once said, “Saying thank you is more than good manners. It is good spirituality.”  All I can say is, “Amen, brother Alfred!”

Prayer Power
Lord, I am so grateful for that little idea about listing my blessings that You dropped into my mind this morning.  You saved me (and those around me) from a lot of grief today.  We all have so much to be grateful for…bad dreams or not.  Thank You for the lifeline.  You are so good to us.

Link of the Day
Creating A Gratitude Journal

Blessings on you as you reflect on your many blessings from the Lord today.