Voice of Gratitude

Each week I find joy visiting the blogs of so many friends participating in the Gratitude Community at Holy Experience. On "Multitude Mondays" they add to their rolling lists of blessings in their lives... big and small... obvious and subtle... fleeting and enduring. Yesterday, in the still of the night, I thought about writing my first installment to join them. Somehow my thoughts strayed to our plans for learning this year. Those ideas spilled into thoughts of my boys... their distinct differences, their unique strengths... all of the things I appreciate and treasure in their young selves. And then it struck me. Do I tell them enough... specifically... what I appreciate about them?

We long to hear affirming words from our heart mates, our families, our friends, our colleagues. We drink in the validation of those we respect, admire and love. Our children long for that wellspring of encouragement from us... their parents... the people who know them best. When was the last time someone you love took the time to list specific reasons they appreciate you, written by hand that your eyes might linger over them as their sentiment bathed your heart? How deeply would our children appreciate the same?!

So I have a new goal this year... to create and add to a gratitude journal for each of my boys at least weekly throughout the school year. We'll keep the journals among the bookshelves of the living room where they can readily draw them out and linger over heart words.

I never want these boys to wonder what is special about them... what is appreciated about them. I want them to know that the little things are crucial in a family. I want them to know that kindness, consideration, compromise, virtue and honor are treasured in the every day. It is my desire that not only will they grow in the nourishment of these words, but that they will gain a better understanding of how their actions serve to build up those they love... and that they will learn to express their own gratitude. When someone brings a smile to their eyes and laughter to their lips, I want their gratitude to instinctively, automatically be expressed openly... poured freely into the lives of others.