I've been thinking about gratitude a lot lately. I'm not a very happy person when I don't feel good. I've had this lip sore for two weeks and it just makes me crabby. Pregnancy doesn't make me feel good so I'm a beast when I'm with child pretty much the whole time. I'm irritable and short and nothing is good enough. Since Elsie came, I've been trying to change my mental state. Instead of finding everything wrong with my life (my husband works too much, everything is too expensive, the kids are driving me crazy, I hate finding something to make for dinner), I've been trying to start at ground zero. I've been thinking about all the people in the world who wake up in a war zone, who watch their children starve to death, who struggle with a terminal illness, who can't have children. When you start with nothing, it's so easy to see how blessed you are.
Our prayers have been simple these past few months. Thank you for sending Daddy safely home from work. Thank you for our beds and clothes and food. Thank you for our friends and family, that we have so many loved one with whom we can share our lives. It's helped. I'm not perfect at it, but I feel more "in tune." I feel more sanctified and less guilt when I pray and think about spiritual things. I knew that gratitude was a good way to bring the Spirit into your heart, but I didn't know that it qualifies us for blessings. I feel like I can ask for things because I'll be grateful for them and I really need them and not because my natural man feels like I'm entitled to it.
So try gratitude. It opens the doors to communicating with God.
