Hello, and a Happy Thanksgiving week to all!
I’m writing today with a challenge for all of you – all of us. Yes, I definitely felt challenged when I heard about this challenge and
decided to challenge myself to fulfill this particular challenge. (Silly, I
know… ANYway…)
By now, I’m sure you’re dying to hear what in the world I’m
talking about, so here we go…
I’ve attended my Tuesday morning Bible Study for about 25
years now. Every Tuesday, with no break in the summer, about a dozen women
(give or take) in my church’s congregation get together to share our joys and
sorrows, pray for each other and many others, and study something Biblical that
has the potential to change our minds, hearts and (hopefully) our lives.
I started attending when Megan was only one year old, and to
be honest, my initial attraction to it was that it was during the day and
offered child care. But, since Megan just celebrated her 27th birthday,
and I’m still going, you can see that
the group grew to be very important to me. In fact I now grieve the times when I
can’t attend.
We’ve always tried to approach the week of Thanksgiving with
thankful hearts. Even when one of us has gone through something terrible, we
still always try to approach God with a thankful heart for some greater good.
I’ve found that approach to be a super way to live life. Do I ever fail? Yes, I
do. Sometimes I/we, in our human-ness, don’t feel grateful
for much of anything, am I right?
So two days ago, (on Tuesday the 17th) the woman
who has lead our group all of this time challenged each of us. She said, “I’m
asking each of you to think of ten things that you’re thankful for, every
day, between now and
Thanksgiving. If you can, I want you to write them all down. By the end of this
period, you won’t believe how differently you’ll feel. ”
Hmmm… I’ll be
honest, my initial reaction was,
WHAT?
TEN? That seems like an awful lot! I’ve heard that “Oprah” only suggests
writing FIVE! But when I got my bearings, I realized that ten is really
nothing at all, not even a drop in the bucket of things in my life for which
I’m grateful. I got out my notepad and got busy.
My List so far - Day 3 is on the back - and that's Millie, the cat...
Today was my third day already. I make a list on a sheet of
paper – nothing fancy – and write the numbers one through ten, in list form. I
decided to start my challenge with each member of my family, and think of ten
things that I love about them, and for which I’m thankful. I decided (just in
case you were wondering if I forgot) to thank God Himself next Thursday. On
that day, I may even seem repetitive, because I’ll be thanking Him for each of
the things I’ve already mentioned. After all, He’s provided me with the means
to obtain and nurture all that I have, right? At least that’s how I view it.
I also realized that by Thanksgiving Day, I won’t likely be
anywhere near done, and I’ll need to continue doing this exercise every day –
maybe even forever. Probably not a bad
way to greet each day.
For me, I think – I believe
– it’s going to make a good difference. When I live my life with a grateful
attitude, there’s nowhere near as much room for the doubts and worries to creep
in. Will they ever creep? Yes, unfortunately, they will… but I think that on
those days, I’ll whip out my list, and start reviewing all of the ways in which
all of my doubts and worries have (thankfully) gone to waste in the past, and
focus on the good again.
Are you with me? Will you take my study leader’s challenge?
Let me know if we’re in this together, okay?
OH! And if we don’t connect before next week, have a Happy
and very Blessed Thanksgiving!
Katie Kolberg Memmel is the author of "Five Fingers, Ten Toes - A Mother's Story of Raising a Child Born with a Limb Difference." For more information, visit her website at www.katiekolbergmemmel.com
