Maintaining an Attitude of Gratitude Is Not Always Easy

OK . . .It's true confession time.  Yesterday was not such an easy day to maintain an attitude of gratitude.  Friday's Kansas wind concerned me since I knew I was scheduled for a 5K Saturday morning and with the wind Friday, there was no way that could happen.  So, I was extremely thankful to wake up Saturday morning and find the wind wasn't quite as bad.  I got ready, put my crown and sash on, and headed out the door.  I didn't get to the end of the driveway before I turned around and headed back inside.  The wind was whipping my sash enough that I decided rather than fight with it during the 5K, I would just leave it at home.

Well, I was taking my power chair on this 5K so I was just going to take it to the starting point.  I tried to get my dog to use the bathroom before we left home, but no luck.  We were only a block from home when he started indicating we needed to make a stop.  I made a detour on our route to take us somewhere there was a trash can close by.  He got that taken care of and I got it picked up and disposed of and we were headed on the road again.  I had to take off my gloves during this process and was nearly freezing waiting.  Barely a block down the road, my power chair wheels slipped off the sidewalk and I was stuck.  I've done this before, so I learned from experience how to successfully get myself unstuck.  At this point, I was ready to call it quits and head back home.

But, I remembered my platform and decided to start giving thanks.  I was thankful for things like:

• the wind was calmer than yesterday
• I had gloves and a coat
• I had found a portable scooper that I could use alone from my wheelchair
• I knew where the city trash cans were along my route
• I hadn't been fighting my sash through all of this
• I had learned from experience and hadn't remained stuck
• I had my cell phone in case of an emergency
• The sun was shining

By the time we got to the starting point of the 5K, I was in a much better mood and able to honestly put a smile on my face.  I had a great experience and will tell all of you about it soon.  So, I can speak from experience yet once again that being thankful really does change your mood and outlook.  Your heart doesn't have room for negative feelings when it's full of thanks.  Why do I always forget that is true?

Thanksgiving for the day:
Accomplishing goals
Friends
Purple roses
"Chapstick Prayer"
Rain


""The thankful heart sees the best part of every situation. It sees problems and weaknesses as opportunities, struggle as refining tools, and sinners as saints in progress."
Francis Frangipane