Gratefulness On An Ordinary Morning

It happened to me! I picked up a book and the sentences on the page leapt off as though it were written just for me.
Today, a very ordinary morning for me, I realized that I had been emotionally and physically exhausted from concentrating on the things we needed to buy to complete our home so we could start enjoying the house. My soul is whispering to me that what I really need is financial serenity. I hear the stillness and begin to listen and understand the words. What I hungered for was inner peace that the world cannot take from me. I can see that I have much for which to be grateful. I am humbled by my riches and I know that there is a great abundance in my life. How can I expect more and more and more when appreciation of what I already have is what I need more of. I have taken an inventory of my lifes assets: my health and my husbands health, our home (small, incomplete but comfortable), a beautiful and happy daughter, her health and peaceful well-being and her beau, three handsome, wonderful sons who bring me much joy, their health and peacefulness and contentment and their wonderful wives and children. I have three precious boxers who daily bring me such love and companionship. We always have plenty of food and drink on the shelves of our industrious kitchen. We are also blessed with new wonderful friends and have just begun our journey with them in our lives.
Once I began this list of my lifes assets I kept thinking of new ones to add. The beautiful Mothers Day mini-book I found in our newly built bookcases given to me by our eldest son and twin several years ago. It was filled with so much love. It reminded me to not take his love for granted but to feel blessed by it. The beautiful poem my daugher wrote to me when she was just a small girl in kindergarten which I have scrapbooked in an album and the poem she bought framed and gave to me on my birthday and the profound words it read that pierce my heart each and every time I read it. She has brought me such joy. I love having our long deep conversations over the phone. I have a husband that cares for me more than life itself with all his heart and soul and he doesnt have to tell me because it is in every deed that he does. Everyday he will say to me how Beautiful I am and how much he loves me. He treats me like I am his Queen and he is my King and believe it or not has been doing this for more than 32 years. When I look at my lifes ledger I realize that I really am a very rich woman.
So what I have been experiencing is merely a temporary cash flo problem. My personal net worth can't possibly be determined by the size of my bank account. It doesn't really matter how this awareness arrived but that it did arrive. I give thanks now for everything: my mother who is still alive and doing OK, the fern in a green ceramic pot on my kitchen window sill, the exotic fragrance from my husbands aftershave as he gets ready to go to work, the sips of hot coffee drenched in french vanilla cream poured lovingly by my husband of 32 years, the tuna fish grilled sandwich with swiss cheese we had for dinner last night, the kiss I get every single night upon getting into bed and the words " I love you" before I drift off to sleep. What better way to end the day. Every day is offered to me moments of pleasure and contentment. Weren't they there before? Yes, but I am now noticing it more fully and appreciating all these gifts more and more everyday. The power of gratefulness has caught me by surprise!
All I ask of you is to "open your eyes" and give a real look into your life. Are your basic needs met? Do you have a home? Food on the table? Clothes to wear? Is there a regular paycheck coming in? Do you have your health? Do you have your dreams? Can you walk, talk, listen to your favorite music that stirs your soul? Can you see all the beauty that surrounds you? Do you have family and friends who you love and who love you? Stop and give "thanks". Let your heart open and feel the power that comes with gratefulness. You have now what you have. So replace the need for more financial security with financial serenity. Start your gratitude journal and I bet you can make it pretty long! A french proverb reminds us "Gratitude is the hearts memory". Integrate this life-affirming principle into your life and miracles will start to unfold to your wonderment and amazement. We all have much to be grateful for.