My birthday was this past weekend and it was a big one. One that if I’m being honest, I’ve been dreading for weeks. But as time does, it continues to pass even when we’d much prefer it just stopped or moved slower. Leading up to the big day, I told anyone who asked, that I’d much prefer the day be treated as any other and my birthday ignored. Like if I didn’t acknowledge it, then it wasn’t real? I really don’t know, the human mind is a weird place (at least mine is). Anyway, my family and friends did celebrate me and I did my best to embrace their love and desire to celebrate the big day. 

The thing is, nothing has changed since last week. I’m still the same person, just a few days older. Which when you think about it is true of any day, not just our birthdays. However, when big numbers that once seemed so old start ticking by more quickly than ever it’s hard not to look back over your life and analyze how you’ve lived. Which is kind of where I found myself leading up to the big day. Questions like – have I done enough? What kind of legacy am I leaving to my kids? Did I make the right decisions, etc.. Then the second guessing and regrets storm in and you find yourself spiraling pretty quickly. All leading to reasons I began dreading my birthday.

To kick off my birthday week, a sweet friend gave me some fresh wild flowers in a beautiful jar. It came with colorful slips of paper, which as she explained – when the flowers died, the jar was to be used as  a gratitude jar. The slips of paper were ready for me to record whatever I’m grateful for each day. I’ll still have a beautiful and colorful jar, but the paper inside won’t die. Instead they will remind me to be grateful in all seasons. Since the flowers are mostly still alive, I haven’t begun to fill the jar with gratitude just yet, but the idea has challenged me to think differently and try to flip the script on my normal thought process. So this morning, when I woke up in not a great mood, I decided to spend some time just thanking God for big and small things in an effort to flip the script.

Three journal pages later, I came to the conclusion that I do, in fact have much to be grateful for. God has blessed me with 60 years of life. That is a truth none of us should take for granted, since there are many whose time on earth has been cut extremely short. While those 60 years haven’t all been good, many have been. I have been blessed abundantly and fully. I am far from rich by worldly standards, but nonetheless I am rich by heavens! God has intricately woven my life together with some pretty awesome people, experiences and most importantly Himself! Those blessings are much greater than the size of our meager bank account. 

I  thought about sharing those pages and everything that made the list, but the thing is it was never meant to be all encompassing and its purpose was to change my focus and perspective. Like all things, changing our thought process and habits can be hard. But after only a few days, I do find myself trying to look for the good and find gratitude in little things – even when I’m annoyed. Today my list started off with having a warm cup of coffee and hearing birds chirping outside my window. Tomorrow it could be simply that I woke up healthy. I’m sharing this today because I believe there are others who also need this challenge to flip the script in their thinking and choose gratitude over complaining. Will you join us in looking for moments and glimpses of reasons to be grateful in the normal everyday routines of life?