Food for Thought: Thankful
When I was in college I would always put "FFT"(Food for Thought) in the margins next to notes that I wanted to mentally chew on later. Fast Forward ten years and now I've decided to expand it into my fun food making. Every year, in the month of November, I pull up this exact quote and really let it seep into my mind:
"There is always, always, always, something to be thankful for"
In a world that is full of me-me-me attitudes, and I need more-more-more to be a happier person, or if I just have xyz then life will be better -- it can be easily forgotten that we have plenty to be thankful for; right here and right now.
It is so easy to think about what else we want, or what we want to be better in our lives. It is almost as if everyone is just focusing on what they can do to improve or enhance their lives. Not to say we shouldn't be looking to grow or be better as individuals, but in all that focus to become better we can forget to be thankful for what we do have right now. When we are in rough times it is easy to think there is nothing to be thankful for. However when we step back and think for a moment, we realize there is always something. Even if it is the littlest of things -- it is something. What we are thankful for doesn't even have to be tangible or material.
This year as a family, instead of just talking about what we are thankful for, we wrote it down on paper leaves and made a Thankful Tree. I have truly enjoyed watching the tree grow throughout the month. I encouraged Eliana to think about things we take for granted as well, when writing on each leaf. Sure it can be easy to take anything for granted, but I encouraged her to think of daily conveniences that sometimes we don't realize we should be thankful for. Among others she put "food", "shelter", and "the people who work to make 'our' home". My heart. This girl just makes my heart beam. Even Samantha added to the tree -- she scribbled on a few leaves and put them up :)
I hope that making a Thankful Tree will continue to be a family tradition that our kids will look forward to every year. There is something so significant about putting our words onto paper. It is so easy to talk, and say something. But when it comes to writing it down we all tended to stop for a moment and think before we wrote.
Imagine if we took that kind of care to our spoken words; not just our written words.
I am ever so thankful for my family; my husband, my baby girls, and our dog. I am blessed to have them all in my lives. Each one of them has added something special to my life. Just watching my children grow, watching their personalities develop is an amazing blessing I never want to take for granted. It is very easy to forget when we are exhausted, running on no sleep, cranky and stressed, but at the heart of it all, there is always love.
What are YOU thankful for?
♥ Michelle
