March 14, 2014

If you are exposed to any type of social media these days, you have probably heard of “Throwback Thursday”. Well lately, it has really taken off (at least on Facebook) among my friends. When we all first started to post such funny pictures of each other from the past, well, it was, really, uh, funny. However, months later, I am now pretty tired of seeing old pictures of my friends (or of me for that matter) every Thursday.

So I have decided to start a new tradition. I pretty much doubt this is an original idea, but I have decided to start a weekly post called “Thankful Thursday”. Now, by the time I publish this post, most of you will see this on Friday but hopefully, I will be more organized and post early Thursday mornings. Tonight, I will just pretend that I live in Hawaii (imagine me waving at you as I stand on a sandy beach).

If you would like to share your version of “Thankful Thursday” (photos or text or both) in the future, you can link your post to my post on Thursdays in the comments section with the title “Thankful Thursday”. Click here to see my latest Thankful Thursday posts and to  share your own Thankful Thursday post.

When we share what we are thankful for with one another, it’s an opportunity for gratitude to deepen in our heart. It’s also a way to promote the spirit of gratitude in a world of negativity and discontent. It is within a grateful heart that we can find peace, contentment, and an abiding happiness.

Gratitude unlocks the fullness of life. It turns what we have into enough, and more. It turns denial into acceptance, chaos to order, confusion to clarity. It can turn a meal into a feast, a house into a home, a stranger into a friend.
Melody Beattie, author of Beyond Codependency

So here goes:

This Thursday, I am thankful for bread and soup – a traditional meal we have during Lent.
Bread

Potato Soup

I am thankful for extra moments of prayer.
Hymnal

I am thankful for a beautiful bouquet of flowers that has brightened up our home.
Bouquet

And finally I am thankful for being invited to a wonderful birthday brunch with some of my girlfriends: lace tablecloth, pretty napkins, white china, yummy quiche, beautiful cards, uplifting words, and pink candy kisses in pretty crystal glasses. (Photo taken with my girlfriend’s smartphone)

Kisses