One Sunday during my sophomore year at Ricks College, I participated in a Relief Society lesson on gratitude. The teacher gave us all a piece of paper and asked us to write down a few things we were grateful for. I set to work listing things like my family, the gospel, the education I was receiving, and so on. On the walk home from church, my good friend and neighbor, Jenni, asked me what things I had written on my grateful list. I told her, and then asked her what she had written on hers.
"Number one," she said, "beef. Number two, the little line you write on your checks so that no one else can write 'and a million dollars.' That's all I've got so far."
I was impressed with the genius of her list. Where I had only scratched the surface with my items, she had dug immediately right to the heart of it.
I promised myself that day that I would see things like Jenni did. I would be grateful for big and small, appreciating of the broad and the minute.
So I started a book, which I called Things I Am Grateful For, and which has in the five years since I began it has grown to two volumes. In it I've written down the things I am grateful for, the things that I like, and the things that make me happy. It's a tiny book -- one of those 4.5"x3.25" composition books you can get at Walmart of 79 cents -- but tiny is appropriate because tiny means that I can carry it with me. Each item listed is numbered and currently I am up to 3,104 (it might be bigger had I not occasionally forgotten to record my gratitudes).
Today, as my wish for a happy, pleasant weekend to you all, I will share a few things that I am grateful for. (All items come from Volume 2, seeing as it is with me and Volume 1 is not.)
#1910. The recorded voice
#1973. The smell of freshly mowed grass
#2122. Buy one get one free
#2247. Windows
#2277. Dar Williams
#2300. Feeding Marshmallow the duck at Wilderness Park
#2301. When Marshmallow eats right out of my hand
#2373. Blake's patience with me when I am a basketcase
#2394. The phenomenon that is Education Week
#2443. Muffins during Sunday School
#2458. Raspberry sherbet
#2625. Eloquence
#2754. Having a crock pot to lend out
#2918. Killer deals
#3080. Rotating crops
What are you grateful for?
3 comments:
Wow. That's such a great idea! I'm impressed with your diligence!!! Today I am grateful for sunscreen, bubblegum, peppermint taffy, and cell phones.
Today: Insurance.
We got our bill for my husband's appendicitis hospital stay. Had we not had insurance we'd be in the hole $29,000 just from that.
Hm.
My current list includes having a swamp cooler in my room, and Sunday afternoon naps (especially when both are used together).
Oh! And also that little Frog Prince Beanie Baby I just bought at the pharmacy. At last--a frog prince to smooch!
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