grat·i·tude: The state of being grateful; thankfulness.

Thanksgiving is a time of being thankful for all of the many blessings in your life. We had a very touching candle light service at our church in which each person shared what they were thankful for this year. As I stood listening to each person share their gratitude I was overcome with just how blessed I truly am. I have a Savior who died for my sins and then rose again, good health, healthy children, a happy marriage, a wonderful home, a vehicle to drive, food in my cabinets, lots of clothes in my closet, all of my needs being met, tons of friends and a successful business.

I have decided to start working on a new project for each Thanksgiving. I am creating a Gratitude book. Just like the Halloween book that I add to yearly I plan to add to this gratitude book every Thanksgiving. The Halloween book focuses mainly on pictures while the gratitude book will mainly be journaling with a picture of family or something I am especially thankful for that year.

Another great idea for your gratitude book would be to add the things that your family is thankful for that year as well. You could have a page for each person to journal or simply create a pocket on a page and add a tag or strip of paper from each person listing something they are thankful for.

Don’t want to make a complete gratitude album? Then just add a page to your family album listing the things that you are thankful for this year.

Sometimes we take for granted just how blessed we truly are. Take some time to stop and reflect on your life and the things that are most important to you. Even in the worst of times I am confident that you will find many things to be thankful for. Write those things down so that when you are feeling bad you can look at them and remember you are blessed! Include pictures of some of the things that you are thankful for as well. There are some great examples on the Faith Sisters website so be sure to visit.