{grateful}

recently, the kids and i had a hard morning.  i was trying to get them to help clean up...to pick up their toys in their playroom and bedrooms.  so much complaining and whining about all there was to put away.  really...you have a home and bedrooms and a playroom filled with fun things to play with and you are going to cry and have a tantrum because you have been asked to clean up a bit.  for real?!!

i was so frustrated with their ungratefulness.  ungratefulness for the things they have been given and how hard their daddy works to provide for them and us. ungratefulness for how comfortable their lives are. that they have never known what it is like to not have toys to play with, clothes to wear, a house to come home to.  what it feels like to really be hungry, or cold, or sick...

about that time i realized just how ungrateful i am too.  how often i forget to thank my God, my husband and those around me for the blessings they have bestowed on me.  how ungrateful i can be at times for the children that are pestering me and the husband who is coming home late...again.  forgetting that God has answered my prayers with the gift of an amazing partner and healthy, growing, thriving children, a home and the opportunity to stay home and be a full-time mom.

"your cleansed and grateful life, not your words, will bear witness to what i have done" matt 8:3-4

"gratitude is not only the greatest of virtues, but the parent of all others." ~Cicero

now...to figure out how to foster grateful hearts.  any thoughts, let me know.