The Grateful Jar

Just so you know, I started writing this post on January 3rd or 4th.
I put off publishing it for no other reason than it getting shoved to the back burner,
not unlike many other things in my life that should have been a priority.
Here's how it started out...
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I'd seen the idea before.

 A friend posted this on Facebook, and I knew right away I wanted to do it this year.

Nothing hard about it.

Lord knows I've got plenty of Mason jars...

...Lord knows I've got plenty of things to be grateful for.

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The idea is to start it at the beginning of the year and add to it daily.

Yes, daily.

Even on my darkest day, there is something for me to be grateful for...

...simply the ability to breathe in air...on those days when it seems God is far away.

 ~

So I made up a cute little label, added some ribbon and slapped it on the jar.

I'm keeping it on my kitchen counter top with some little squares of paper.

It only takes a minute to write it down...and I plan to put the date each one.

 It is one thing that my way-too-often-undisciplined-self can do.

Yes, I can will do this!

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At the end of 2015 there should be 365 little pieces of paper in my grateful jar.

  Since I'm getting a late start I'll have to put in more than one here and there to take up the slack :)

That's when the fun begins...when you go back and read them all...
...next New Year's Eve.

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Oh mercy...I may not be able to wait that long!



So, that being the original post, let me continue...
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I was all set to do this...except for hitting the publish button.
I was doing good, adding my little pieces of colored paper with grateful thoughts jotted on them...
...for about a week.
I would walk into my kitchen, the little jar catching my eye each time.
It got easier and easier to say to myself "Oh, I'll do this later, right now I'm so busy doing..."
Doing what??
Was I really too busy doing whatever to stop for a second and add to my little Grateful Jar?
In the beginning I took quite a bit of time preparing this...
...making that cute little label...
...coming up with the decoration on top...
 ...and cutting all those colored pieces of paper.



It deeply pains me to admit that I was failing to hold to my commitment.
Several more days have passed and I have not taken those few moments to add to my jar.
That is until this morning when I read this post from Gayle at Solitary Moments.
You may want to take the time now to read her post and then continue mine.
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So let me just tell you, her words hit me right between the eyes.
Actually, it was the Holy Spirit speaking to my heart...
...God's amazing grace...right when I needed it!
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I know that right away I need to open my jar and go through it until I find that last one I wrote...
...yes, I dated them, so it won't be hard.
If I have a hard time remembering something specific for those days,
I have NO excuse...

...since I can always be grateful...even for the air I breathed in.
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Thank you, Gayle for this awesome reminder.
Yes Lord...You certainly do work in mysterious ways...even through blogs :)

Blessings,

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