This Week’s Writing Prompt:
“Life-changing gratitude does not fasten to a life unless nailed through with one very specific nail at a time. Little nails and a steady hammer can rebuild a life,” writes Ann Voskamp in One Thousand Gifts: A Dare to Live Fully Right Where You Are.
Discovering what gratitude looks like amid long, gritty, and sometimes dark days is a challenge we all face. With eyes open to everyday blessings around us, we cultivate an attitude of gratitude for the life we are living this very moment. Gratitude grounds us in the present.
- What are you grateful for today?
- Be still. Notice what is happening around you. Listen. See. Feel. Taste. Smell. What are some little nails that establish gratitude in your heart? Voskamp gave thanks for brown eggs from the henhouse, freckles on noses, an amaryllis bloom, a sleeping dog, and the glow of the front porch light—all signs of life. What about you?
- Think about a rough patch in your life. Look back at how you overcame this dark period. Did you experience gratitude and the knowledge that life does get better during this time? If so, write about it.
Share your response in the comments section below.
All posts in response to our writing prompts in September will be entered into our drawing to win a free online coaching video—that’s a $20 value!
1 Comment
Beverly Bailey
I’m grateful for September. The long, hot summer here in Orlando has seemed endless with day after day of a sun boiling in humid air. Weather reporters have said we’ve had well over a 100 days of above 90 degrees.
I love to walk early in the morning, around 6:30, but this summer, when I finished a mile, I had to take a shower and change clothes. I have stayed indoors most of June, July, and August, not wanting to even go to the grocery store.
But, now it is September. Already brown, curly leaves from gum and pecan trees are floating to the ground when a puff of wind comes along. Hickory nuts are enticing the squirrels. Soon the grass will slow down its speedy growth. All around, nature is beginning to rest. And I will too.
Rest. Being still to hear silence. Being quiet to hear my heart, to hear my husband’s heart. Sitting on the front porch and being comfortable.
I’m grateful, so grateful for September and October and November–fall. And even in Central Florida, we can see autumn’s beauty in nature. Hickory, sweet gum, cypress, sycamore, and maple leaves turn yellow and orange. Pink, red, and white blossoms peek out from azaleas. Turkeys peck their way across the backyard, and deer munch grass along the fence. Our resident hawk sits on fence posts, watching for whatever is crawling in the grass that will make a good snack.
Fall is also a time I reminisce deeply about my childhood. Abundant color, apples, harvest festivals, new sweaters to wear when frost comes, closing the windows in the house for the first time when the temperature drops, long drives through mountains. Hikes. Pumpkin pie.
God’s presence everywhere–family, nature, friends. Memories that clothe my spirit through autumn and when winter’s first chill comes along.