The Gratitude Journal

I tried a little experiment over the last couple of months.  I have kept a gratitude journal.  It is just a small book I keep with my lesson materials, and each day I write three things for which I am grateful.  I haven’t been perfect at it, but it has been a great experience and I will continue to do.

Some of the things I have written are things most people feel gratitude for and really aren’t very interesting to go back and read.  What I have found interesting is the little things I noticed.  There are a few days that the first thing on the list is sunshine.  It has been an early spring, and it has boosted my spirits immensely.  Also, I had found something which I had lost.  That was a great surprise as well.

The things I most love are the little acts of service my family has given to me.  None of these things took much time, less than 10 seconds probably, but they made my day!  It has made me pay attention to the little things I am doing for them. If I feel better through their service, then I can make the day brighter for them as well.  I don’t need grand gestures from them to feel loved. They need only the this from me; to know I thought of them throughout the day and loved them enough to do something simple for their behalf. 

There is even a comment about something a stranger had done for me.  I hope I can do small things for others.  Perhaps it is just the boost they need!

That All May Succeed

I watched an amazing speech by Robert C. Gay called “Entrepreneurship and Consecration.” 

 

  find it here  

“The war world of modern capitalism is not the model you want to embrace as

 you launch into your business lives.  On the surface the standard model of business

 appears logical and good, but appearances are not always what they seem to be.  

 The world’s business model would have you believe that the critical factor for you is to create businesses that maximize and build wealth for shareholders and that as you achieve this, you will be a success and a net contributor to those around you.  

I believe that what the Lord would call success is quite different from

 what the Lord would call success.”

He says there are only two purposes to business. 

 1. To provide for basic needs and

 2. To rescue others.

He isn’t talking about government hand-outs, but providing opportunities for others to advance their own lives.  He is referring to being dedicated to sharing resources which give work and advancement to others.  At the end of our lives, a mass of money will not make us happy, but having helped others through service and assistance for their own progress will bring us joy. 

This week I have been pondering his term “The War World.”  I had never called it this before, but I see it this way often enough.  It seems that in today’s world, in order for some to feel success, they must keep others from being successful too.  It is in the news and it is close by in my own life.  

I remember a few years ago teaching a group of teenage girls.  This group was filled with remarkable young women who were successful and beautiful.  Some of them were also very disappointing.  One particular incident occurred as we were beginning our class and discussing the things that had happened in their lives during the week. One young woman stated how excited she was that she had received and A on a particular project. Another girl spoke up saying she had gotten the same grade and gave congratulations to the first on her efforts.  The first girl then stated something along the lines of, “Oh.  If you got that grade too then it must not have been that great of an accomplishment.” 

Her success was no longer a thing to be excited about simply because another had also succeeded.

 

I don’t understand how the success of someone else could detract from your own success. I think the success of those around us only makes our own success bigger.  When did the joy in the life of another become a bad thing? Let us be different from the world of war, the world of having to be only one to succeed.  Express genuine joy in behalf of another and joy will grow within you.  Let us grow together, succeed together and celebrate together.