Gratitude, The Secret to a Happy Life

I am reading the most amazing book.  It's called One Thousand Gifts.  I downloaded the PC Kindle application to my computer so that I could read the Kindle version, since the hard copy won't be available for a few weeks yet. It's all about one woman's lessons learned while accepting a challenge to write down one thousand things she is thankful for.  She has an awe-inspiring way with words that reach to the depths of my soul every time I read them.  Because of this book, I've decided that I, too, want to write down one thousand things I'm thankful for, and if I keep the list going on the blog, there's less chance of losing it in my too-full-of-stuff house.  Did that sound like a complaint?  Well, I'm grateful to have this house, so I'll start with that one.

NUMBER ONE:  a house with enough room for 10 people.

I actually decided to start this list while I was in the shower the other day.  Here are a few other things I came up with:

2. HOT running water!  Woohoo!  I remembered back 20+ years to my mission to Argentina, and having to take cold showers, or scalding hot ones, since we never could get those gas flames heaters to work right.  I can stand  in my shower every day and enjoy it at whatever temperature I want (as long as I time it right, and don't do it on Saturday night after the children have had their turns).

3.  Indoor toilets!  Another memory from my mission in Argentina, and one day visiting a family we were working with, and feeling an insuppressible urge.  I ask to use the bathroom.  They all looked at each other a bit uncomfortably, but they pointed me toward a little building toward the back of their yard area.  I went in and found myself staring at nothing more than a hole in the ground, and me standing there in my dress.  Well, I'll spare you any further details, but suffice it to say, I am happy for indoor toilets high enough off the ground to be able to sit comfortably.

4. Soap--just love that feeling of being clean!
5. Shampoo--my hair loves it, too.
6. Fluffy, clean towels to dry off with. 
7. An enclosed shower.  Much nicer than having to shower in the same area with the toilet, and then squeegee the floor afterward. 
8. Mirrors that let me show mercy to the world by trying to look better than I otherwise might before heading out into it.
9.  Combs, brushes, curling irons.  (If I get to 997 and can't think of anything else, I'll split this one up.  I'm not worried that I'll have to, though.)
10.  Linoleum to step out of the shower onto. 
11.  Better yet--a rug or towel on top of it. 
12.  Toilet paper.  That could almost be first on the list.
13. Today, with a foot of snow having fallen in the past 24 hours, I'm grateful that the Lord is seeing fit to bless us with moisture.  And it's so beautiful!  (I can say that now, after having to shovel so much of it to get the van out.)
Yesterday I ended up scraping the car off from the first 1/2 of that eventual foot of snow, and I could feel myself feeling a little whiny about it.  I remembered what I have been reading about gratitude, so I decided that rather than let my thoughts go into complain mode, I'd try gratitude mode instead. I said I was grateful for the moisture, as I just mentioned, but I also listed:
14.  Warm gloves that are keeping my hands warm.
15.  A warm coat and boots, for the same reason.
16.  I was grateful that it had stayed above freezing so that the snow came off easily without having to be chipped away.  It also made the job not be so cold, also.

I am beginning to think that when the scriptures tell us to keep a prayer in our hearts, they might mean to spend our days thanking and praising the Lord for our many blessings.  Sometimes there are things that we feel the need to ask for, either for ourselves or for others, and when those times arise, certainly those prayers are appropriate.  I find that the more I focus on gratitude, the less I find to complain about. 

So there's the start to my list of 1000 gifts.  It's kind of like having Heavenly Father tell me Merry Christmas!