My Thanksgiving goal: The "giving" part

I LOVE Thanksgiving! It is a great holiday. I love gathering with family. It also gives me a time to reflect on my past year and specifically point out what I am grateful for.

This year I am making a goal to be more grateful in my life. The past year has been a difficult one for me. Sometimes, I found it was easy for me to get down and lose sight of the positives in my life. This is not to say that I have walked around for the past year being grumpy, but I have noticed that at times the worry and stress of life has brought me down.

I have decided that even though life is crazy right now--life is still good. There are so many things that make it good. The most important being my loving Heavenly Father and my Savior Jesus Christ. Although, this past year has been challenging, prayer and the power of the atonement have helped me to make it through. I have learned, probably more than ever, that my Heavenly Father knows me personally. He is aware of my circumstances, my feelings, my failures, and my efforts. He loves me anyway. I have felt the healing power of the atonement as I have tried to become a better person, and as I go through things that are difficult for me. The peace that I have felt when I have turned to my Savior has been amazing.

I am also grateful for my sweet husband and baby girl. The joy that those two provide in my life is not even comprehensible. I am grateful for my family and for Clint's family (which are my family too). I am grateful for my beautiful home, my good job, and for having all of my little family's basic needs met.
I am blessed.

Now, on to my goal! My goal starts today. The challenge will continue throughout the year until next Thanksgiving, and then hopefully for the rest of my life. The word THANKSGIVING really is two words. Thanks, and giving. Now, obviously it means that it is a day to give thanks. However, this year I want to challenge myself to truly GIVE thanks. I am going to look at this word as more of an action rather than just saying, or speaking the words, "thank you". I want to find more ways to serve others, to give of myself, and my time to help others. By serving others I will be giving thanks. It is my goal to show my Heavenly Father that I am grateful--rather than just telling him what I am thankful for when I pray. I know that if I will do this I will feel closer to my Heavenly Father, and I will feel grateful. I have participated in service throughout my life, however, I want to adopt an attitude of service. I don't want it to be a sporadic thing. I want service to be a constant in my life. I want to consistently GIVE THANKS!

Happy Thanksgiving! May you be safe and warm, and with those you love. XO.