How do we cultivate thankfulness, gratitude, and appreciation?

• Cultivate Dreams
• Enjoy Simple Pleasures
• Sow into Your Soul
• Nurture Your Spirit

Cultivate Dreams

We want to cultivate our dreams, but we don’t need our aspirations to breed discontentment, strife, or paralyzation. We want our heartfelt desires to inspire and motivate us forward.

We need to allow ourselves time to incubate dreams in our heart. We can journal, take a walk, spend a morning alone at home, or plan a getaway weekend to brainstorm and “flesh out” our dream on paper. Thankfulness in the midst of the journey will keep us inspired until our desire is fulfilled.

It is a safe thing to trust Him to fulfill the desire which He creates. ~Amy Carmichael

How do our dreams inspire us yet not hinder us? Some dreams will come to fruition and fulfill the desires of our heart and mind. With a positive perspective, we can allow these dreams to mold us into a giving person. We must refuse to let unfulfilled or broken dreams break us. Instead, we must allow our dreams to be fertilizer for the plans that will bear fruit.

Give me the Love that leads the way

The Faith that nothing can dismay

The Hope no disappointments tire

The Passion that’ll burn like fire

Let me not sink to be a clod

Make me Thy fuel, Flame of God.

~Amy Carmichael

Enjoy Simple Pleasures

It is the simple things in life that mean the most to us. Ask any cancer survivor and you will find they enjoy their early morning cup of coffee in their favorite chair surrounded by their loved ones. It is their loving family, familiar surroundings, and hope for the future that comforts them as they heal.

Perhaps the most tragic thing about mankind is that we are all dreaming about some magical garden over the horizon, instead of enjoying the roses that are right outside today. ~Andrew Carnegie

I enjoy sunrises, sunsets, watching the rain, seeing a rainbow, the fresh green leaves in spring, and the vibrant fall colors. I enjoy the fragrant aroma: of antique roses, fresh cut grass, and biscuits.

Our perspective will affect our ability to enjoy the simpler pleasures of life. Is the glass half-empty or half-full? The glass holds the same amount of water, but our viewpoint will affect how we process an event.

For instance, I can sit in my backyard, listen to the doves coo, feel the gentle breeze, capture the fragrance of flowers and thoroughly lose myself in the moment of contentment. All is well with my soul.

I can sit in the same chair, and zero into the sound of a neighbor’s dog barking, the sound of a car driving by on the street, criticize the wind for not blowing or for blowing to strong, complain about the lack of fragrance from the flowers and lose myself in discontentment. All is wrong in the world.

There is always something to be happy about if we look for it: ‘Two men looked through prison bars, the one saw mud, and the other saw stars.’ ~Amy Carmichael

Our perspective allows us to enjoy the beauty, appreciate the moment, and release the things which are unpleasant to us. Thankfulness and contentment help our soul to be satisfied.

Sow into Your Soul

What causes beauty to arise from your soul? Music, books, paintings or artwork are a few indoor stimulants that help us cultivate beauty. The view outside of our window, a walk in the park, a drive along the shoreline or through a forest are outdoor stimulants that help us find delight in our world.

We can sow into our soul by cultivating our spirit. Intentionally seeking wisdom from God releases us from the stress of walking alone or from carrying a weight that is too heavy for us to bear. When we tend to our spirit, soul and body, we become a well-rounded person.

Living from a whole heart means we are not shackled by the past, tethered by the present, or imprisoned by fear for the future. ~Lisa Blair

Improving our soul develops our ability to cultivate thankfulness, gratitude, and appreciation. To cultivate thankfulness, name one simple pleasure you enjoyed today.

Nurture Your Spirit

Our spirit is renewed in God’s Presence. His Holy Spirit fills us, then we know His amazing love, His incredible joy, His peace which passes all understanding, His lovingkindness, His gentle leading, His faithfulness to us and on our behalf.

We can seek God and find Him.

“But from there you will seek the Lord your God, you will find Him if you search for Him with all your heart and all your soul.” ~Deuteronomy 4:29 AMP

“Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives, and the one who seeks finds, and to the one who knocks it will be opened.” ~Matthew 7:7-8 NASB

We can grow in thankfulness by cultivating our dreams, enjoying the simple pleasures of life, sowing good seeds into our soul, and by nurturing our spirit in God’s Presence. As we count our blessings from being in His Presence, and from gaining His perspective of our world, our spirit is renewed by His faithfulness to us.

Recommendations:

3 Outstanding Faith Reasons to Abide in Christ – Strength with Dignity

What is the Advantage to being a Fellow-Heir with Christ? – Strength with Dignity

5 Ways to Overcome Our Fears – Strength with Dignity

 References:

Amplified Bible (AMP) Copyright © 2015 by The Lockman Foundation, La Habra, CA 90631. All rights reserved.

Andrew Carnegie Quotes. Published by GoodReads. Retrieved November 12, 2021, from Andrew Carnegie Quotes (Author of The Autobiography of Andrew Carnegie) | Goodreads

Inspiring Amy Carmichael Quotes – for Mission-Minded Women. Published by Mission-minded families. Retrieved November 12, 2021, from Inspiring Amy Carmichael Quotes – for Mission-Minded Women (missionmindedfamilies.org)

New American Standard Bible 1995 (NASB1995), copyright 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995 by The Lockman Foundation.

This is a re-post of Count Your Blessings – Cultivate Thankfulness. Published November 26, 2021.

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