I Got Some New Gratitude

Thank you, Patti LaBelle, for releasing one of the best pick-me-up kind of songs ever written back in 1985: "New Attitude”

 “I'm feelin' good from my head to my shoes
Know where I'm goin' and I know what to do
I tidied up my point of view
I got a new attitude…”

 As my year comes to a close, I’ve been reflecting. I’ve looked at photos. I’ve skimmed my journal. All in all, I’ve come to one conclusion: I need a whole new attitude!! Unlike the song, I haven’t always known where I’m going, or what to do. Heck, most of the time I felt like I walked around in the dark and continually stubbed my toe. I started this new blog (The Grass is Green Enough) because I wanted to focus on contentment and gratitude. That was in August. I guess it was a whim, and I petered out before I even wrote another post. That about sums up my year. Very. Petered. Out. 

 So, 2015, my goal is to keep aiming for that new attitude of gratitude.I want to tidy up my point of view. Basically, I need to tilt myself back a little and start focusing upward more.

 Hebrews 12: 2 – “Fixing my eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of my faith.”

 For Christmas, a buddy gave me Ann Voskamp's One Thousand Gifts Devotional.  I started a new gratitude journal on Christmas Day, and plan to fill it up this coming year. I’ve also been singing a little Patty LaBelle today. I'm hoping the message will sink in. 

Comments

  1. PattyDecember 28, 2014 at 5:20 AM

    Ugh. Here is my first practice of an attitude of gratitude. I wrote a whole long response that deleted itself when I clicked on "preview" so I could see if I had any typos! Lord thank you for my computer and my fingers to type...lol. I am so happy you are starting your words back up, Mar. I have missed them. Thank you for letting peek into your world.

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Missing Adam - My Nature Boy

Image
Hi Adam. I took an early-morning walk yesterday and thought of you.   Not that I don’t think about you every single day, every hour, sometimes every minute, because I do.   But when I’m out in nature, I think about you the most.   I know you would have loved watching the sun climbing up into the sky yesterday. It was so peaceful and beautiful.    It’s been three months today since you left us.   I miss you so much.   I wonder what you are doing right now.   The Bible says, “No eye has seen, no ear has heard, and no mind has imagined what God has prepared for those who love him.” (1 Corinthians 2:9).   I’m sure the nature scenes you’re seeing are much more amazing than anything I could ever imagine.   I can’t wait to enjoy them with you some day. I still remember the first time you ventured out into the Desolation Wilderness by yourself for a week.   We were so worried!   You came home so happy (and stinky!).   You were all scratched up, but filled with joy over having spent t
Read more

The Things We Pack

Image
I gazed out the window of our cruise ship cabin. Grey-blue waves seemed to stretch out infinitely over the horizon. We were 700 miles from San Francisco where we’d departed, headed for Hawaii. Tears welled up in my eyes, fogging up my glasses.  Why am I so sad? I should be enjoying this vacation, not pining away at this window.  But I couldn’t help it. The ocean view was just a visual reminder of the endless grief waves that keep crashing over me. Even though it’s been a little over eight months, they just keep coming.  Will they ever stop?  The grief books assure me they will eventually slow down. I sure hope so! Back in the fall, we planned the late-January vacation knowing that the holidays, followed by Adam’s birthday two weeks after Christmas, would likely leave us drained. We were right. As we packed the Sunday before, I asked Don, “Do you think there will ever be a day when we don’t think about losing him?” “We’ll never stop thinking about him,” Don said. “But
Read more

My One Word For 2016: Release

Image
A very sad thing happened to Rudolph on the way to Christmas dinner.  He lost one of his antlers on the freeway. "How can this be?" You ask. Well, it all started when my mother-in-law rolled down the window...well, actually, it started when I purchased a red nose and antlers for my KIA. Silly. Yes. But fun. And these days I'll take all the fun I can muster up. But my fun didn't last long, because when we picked up Don's mom on Christmas, she didn't know the rule about not rolling down the window. So, there I was, perched in the back seat balancing the scalloped potatoes and flowers and salad and such. In a split second - woosh! The antlers flew onto the freeway. Oops. Sorry about that.  I've been praying for the past couple weeks about what ONE word God wants me to focus on in the coming year. Last year my word was HOPE. I've been sensing that in 2016, He wants me to focus on the concept of RELEASE. Letting go. Setting free. Giving up. I think t
Read more