Don't ever be ungrateful....

At the beginning of the year, I posted my New Year's Resolution above my computer. I vowed to live life more slowly, enjoy each moment. And I ended with an italicized "And don't ever be ungrateful" so I would be especially careful to guard against this particular state of mind that tends to creep in ever so quietly.

Whenever I make a point of stopping to think about all that God has given us, my heart overflows with gratitude. We feel so blessed to have Him in our lives. We feel so blessed to have all our family and friends. We feel so blessed to get to experience life in this world and see all the creativity He's used in laying it all out. But all too often, that's not what I stop to think about. I spend more time than I'd like to admit thinking about all the deadlines, responsibilities, scheduling conflicts, and other demands of life. And what happens to that heart that's so full of gratitude? It gets buried somewhere in the bottom of it all. And all I really "feel" is pressure.

That is exactly what I wanted to learn to overcome when I so carefully taped my New Year's Resolution on the wall 3 months ago. And to some degree, I'd say it's working. When I start feeling weighed down by all the pressure, I now recognize it as an early-warning sign. Kind of like the tornado siren going off before the tornado gets here. And the little voice in my head (the rest of you do hear little voices, don't you??) says, "Don't ever be ungrateful." Don't ever be ungrateful.

Those words snap me back into reality. He has given us so much. Things that really matter.

And the last thing I would ever want is for Him to think that I'm not grateful.