Hey loves, thanks for being here:) Seeing as it's National Thank You Day, I really wanted to try and share what a hugely positive role that thankfulness has played in my life this last year and a half, as well as some little tips for expressing it more. I wanted to include something special with this post as well, so I've partnered with
Merci® to help show how easy and fulfilling it is to say 'Thank You' through heartfelt expressions of gratitude.
To get right into it, every day since Martin was diagnosed 18 months ago, I have been so incredibly blessed and humbled and overwhelmed by the love sent our way. I've said it before, but I know that at the core of my happiness and positivity through the last 18 months has been the neverending support and encouragement from so many of you. I've tried and failed over and over to express my thanks for every caring gesture, every timely comment, every prayer offered, every batch of cookies, every dollar donated, every tender thought, but there are simply no words or ways to repay so much goodness and generosity. You guys are too good to us.
It has been so humbling, as I said, first to realize just how much people cared, that the world was such a beautiful place full of such giving people, and then to realize that I was no longer the independent and strong woman that I used to be and that I really needed the help.
One day last year I sat with a friend and expressed how much I wanted to give each of you sweethearts a big bear hug, and that I wished there was something that I could do in return for helping hold up my little struggling family. Her advice was to simply
pay it forward once I got my footing again. She said that all we can do is to take those feelings of gratitude and put them back out into the world whenever possible, so that's what we started doing.
At least once a week for the past little while, the kids and I will pick up a small token of appreciation and deliver it to a special someone. It's become one of our favorite family traditions:) We love the
Merci® boxes of European chocolates because they're beautiful and so delicious, they're very inexpensive and easy to find, and the intent is written right on the packaging! (Merci is french for "thank you":)). We like to wrap the boxes in a pretty ribbon before making the delivery, and they always remember who's turn it is to hold the box this time around. :)
Denis Waitley said "Happiness cannot be traveled to, owned, earned, worn, or consumed. Happiness is the spiritual experience of living every moment with grace, love, and gratitude." I really believe that focusing part of each day on what and who we have to be grateful for, even in the midst of terrible trials, that we can see the hope in each day we're blessed to be alive. Life is really a series of thousands of little miracles if we take the time to notice them. There is always something or someone to be grateful for. Always.
Today will never come again, so be a friend, be a blessing, encourage someone, choose to be happy, choose to be excited, take the time to care, let your words heal instead of wound, and simply say
Thank You! We lift ourselves and others when we live with gratitude, and express it as often as possible. *steps off soapbox*
What are some ways that you like to express gratitude or teach your children about being thankful? This is the perfect time of year to work on ideas, so please share!
Disclaimer: This post was sponsored by Merci. All words and opinions are my own. Thank you for supporting the partnerships that support The Freckled Fox!
