Gratitude

Just read another friend's blog and her thoughts on contentment. That is a subject that I have really been thinking about a lot lately. I always seem to struggle with contentment. The grass always seems like it could be greener, or it seems like it used to be greener but now it isn't. Funny how time erases a lot of "brown grass" from our memories. I was talking with Scotty the other night about how I missed the freedom of my single days. Right now, in hindsight, it's like those days were all footloose and fancy-free. Just me and the girls livin' it up! Reality check: I HATED being single! I hated not knowing when or if I'd ever get married, especially as the big 3-0 approached! But it's so funny how now I look back and those days seem so glorious! It got me thinking, what if I could apply that same selective memory to the present? What if, in the present, I could let the negative slip easily out of my thoughts and just retain the positive? What if my focus were on what I'm thankful for NOW, this very minute, instead of what I wish were different? I've been trying to put myself in the practice of paying attention to the things I'm thankful for, and it has made a huge difference in my attitude (when I've stuck to it!). I have more patience with my daughter and more feelings of love toward my husband. I have a greater desire to serve. I have less of a desire for more "stuff". The world definitely does not want us to be content.....who would buy luxery cars, diet pills, huge houses, plastice surgery, self-help books, the latest fashion, etc., if we were all content? I hope and pray that I can rise to the challenge and be a woman of gratitude, for the sake of my children, my husband, and myself.