A grateful person is RICH in contentment!

When I saw this 'saying' today, it spoke volumes to me, personally!  I can't help but to believe that I could probably scan around me and easily tell which people are grateful and which ones are not based on their disposition in life.  Before tragedy hit, was I a grateful person rich in contentment?  Did it take tragedy to bring out my true gratefulness?  I cannot easily answer that question for a few reasons:  1) I was usually a very happy person with very few moments of regret.  2)  Being 'sick' has been my new life for almost 3 years, so it's very difficult to remember a time before illness.  3)  The things around me have become so precious to me, I cannot remember a time they were not.  I can only hope and pray that it didn't take a true catastrophe to create a grateful spirit.

I'm sure we all know a few people in our lives who are never happy with what they have, you can never do enough for them, or they are insistently complaining about the most trivial things.  Those people are pretty easy to spot...and we can say with much clarity....they are probably not riddled with gratefulness.  However, without a life shattering tragedy, can we learn to become grateful and show it off by our contentment with the 'little things'.  I absolutely LOVE to see gratefulness oozing from someone who has decided to BE HAPPY despite the things or people around them.  You can't really fake this....I think....either you constantly feel disappointed by your life or the people around you, or you've chosen to see the beauty in your life, your family, your spouse, or even in your circumstance.

How am I trying to choose to be grateful today?  I often talk about my silver linings.  I have to look very hard each and every day to find one, but I can ALWAYS find one....if I choose to look for it.  I believe that my silver linings are things I can be grateful for, and in turn, I'm producing gratefulness!
Instead of focusing on all the things that I have a 'right' to be ungrateful for, I'm going to put my entitled attitude aside and choose to find gratefulness TODAY!  I could justify why I have a right to complain, why I could be ungrateful about my life, or how things or people have disappointed me...but in the long run, I'm only robbing myself of the chance to find contentment.  I'm not overflowing with excitement that I'm living a ridiculously difficult life...that would be denial.  But I am going to be happy with what I do have and can do, and those things remain precious to me!

My gratefulness this week:

-After almost 6 weeks of difficulty breathing and talking, I was able to read a few pages of a book to my daughter every morning this week.  (this brought me JOY)
-My oldest son actually volunteered and wanted to help me with a Christmas craft and provided some great assistance...even from the bed!
-Despite the loss in appetite again, I did get to lose 4 lbs.  (that's huge for someone who has been in the bed for a year)
-The sounds of Christmas carols brought a smile to my face this week.
-I received several cards, recently, from people I've never even met.  God sent me multiple messages of love using sweet, willing women from other states.
-My hubby agreed to put up the Christmas tree EARLY!
-I was able to talk with my mother on the phone without as much difficulty of breathing.
-My blood levels are back up to the numbers we need them to be to allow me to not feel as out of it, dizzy, sick, nauseous, and short of breath as I usually am.
-Learned that I can wrap presents pretty darn quickly!  I can average 3-5 gifts in my 2 minute stand time this week!
-I've gotten to have some great bonding time with my children that I cannot do on my really bad weeks!

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How are you going to choose to be grateful this week?  Will we see your true contentment?