Speaker 1: 0:02

Welcome to Revelation Within On the Go. I'm Heidi Bilesma-Epperson, one of your hosts and the owner and lead coach of RevelationWithinorg.

Speaker 2: 0:12

And I'm Christina Motley, your other host, also a Revelation Within coach and Heidi's partner in all things Revelation Within, and we are so happy to invite you to join us for this episode of Revelation Within. On Back to Go, and we have arms up, arms up while we're doing it Absolutely, absolutely well.

Speaker 1: 0:51

We have been having such a good old time in our community. We have at rev within dot team. Yes, during the month of august it is our tradition to focus in on one kind of mind renewal, like romans 12, 2 says, in that we use gratitude all month long.

Speaker 2: 1:04

All month long. I love it. I look forward to it every year and I'm sad when it's over, but we continue it going all year long, of course.

Speaker 1: 1:15

Of course, but I wanted to share the change that I experienced, that I experienced.

Speaker 1: 1:30

There's one really solid memory I have of where gratitude made a humongous difference in the most unlikeliest of situations and, christina, you be thinking of one too that you can share and then we'll launch into some creative ways of giving gratitude, because it's not just necessarily the same old, same old. No, we don't have to do the same old, same old. Anyway, years ago, I think it was 2008.

Speaker 1: 1:51

My family of four and I, my kids' dad and my kids and myself went back East from California. We flew all the way from California to Washington DC or something. I don't know where we landed, but we had this marvelous trip planned for a week back east to go see some of the sights of the making of our nation, and that was something we had hoped to do previously. But, yeah, 9-11 had destroyed that idea, but never mind about that anyway, anyway, and I was in the midst of practicing gratitude quite a bit. It was when Ann Voskamp's book 1000 Gifts was had just come out and it was all the rage, and so I had gotten on board with that had a blog where I had 1000 gifts and I was keeping track.

Speaker 1: 2:50

So we went on this trip together, the family and I. Let's watch to see what God is going to give us and do with us and for us, so that we can kind of give thanks to him along the way for the blessings. And we'll take pictures and we'll put them up on the internet, where I have this blog. And it was so much fun. All four of us got in on it. The kids were probably young teenagers I can't remember exactly how old they were then, but anyway, and we did Every day, we would spend time oh look, this is what God has done for us today. And you know, we, or we would review the day or we would look ahead. What's he going to do today? And it's not about gimme God, gimme, gimme, gimme. It was more about recognizing him in all of the things that were going on.

Speaker 1: 3:38

Anyway, I remember one of our drives through Williamsburg, we actually saw this ginormous tortoise-like turtle thing crossing the road in the pouring rain and we walked out, of course, to see it. Nobody else was around, it was beautiful lush vegetation and this tortoise thing, oh my goodness. I say thing because I'd never seen a tortoise that looked like this one. I don't know if he was like some sort of a snapping turtle or something. Anyway, um, but it was fascinating. It was so fascinating. And then there were just other things, of course, that you know, like the upgrade on the rental car. That was cool, you know, um, and the kids were. They. They were such good sports and they played along, and even their dad did too, and it was. It was great. But the way I knew it had changed.

Speaker 1: 4:32

All of us was on our way back home from the airport in the Sacramento area to our. We were on the highway driving all the way back to the foothills where we lived. We were on the highway driving all the way back to the foothills where we lived. The kids and their dad and I were all saying, oh, wow, when can we go again? This was so much fun. I mean, we had been traveling together. Three of us had been sick during this trip. There had been all kinds of rain, but I think it was because of gratitude, practicing gratitude and celebrating the way we saw God at work that we wanted to go again. It wasn't the trip itself, it was that celebration of gifts, good gifts from the one who is the good and perfect giver of all perfect gifts, so anyway.

Speaker 1: 5:21

so for me, gratitude has a really significant impact on my life, when I'm practicing it and when I'm not, you can tell, because I'm a grump.

Speaker 2: 5:32

I love that story, heidi. I've heard it many times and I love it. I love it. It's such a great example of practicing gratitude and what a difference it can make, such a difference.

Speaker 2: 5:46

Okay, so while you were talking, I was thinking of all these different things that I could share. So I'm going to go to back in time a little bit, to when my mom was quite deeply entrenched with the Alzheimer's. It was really consuming her and her memory was very, very short in the moment, but also she had gone backwards in time and wasn't able to remember what was you know kind of her situation and everything. So I remember that I would go over and she and I had a couple of days a week together where I kind of cared for her and gave my dad a break. And it was on my off days and I looked forward to those days, but I also planned for them. I was teaching at the time and I've, you know, taught for years and years, and so I basically did up some lesson plans in my mind, kind of, and I had things prepared in a bag and I had you. I just knew what we were going to do, because if I wasn't prepared, she would very quickly spiral into negative thoughts and anxiety, and it was hard. It was really, really hard, and some of you out there might be dealing with caregiving and how difficult that is, and so to be ready, it gave me a way to, you know, just kind of have things that that would be good. So I would bring things in my bag that I knew would lift her up and then I would kind of model for her gratitude, because in many ways she had forgotten how to practice gratitude and she was never one to be very open with her faith, she was very private about it, and so for me to be able to say things out loud that I was thanking God for it really touched her and kind of gave her a way to communicate with me. So we did it together and it was lots of fun.

Speaker 2: 7:45

And as soon as her thoughts would go in a negative direction, she had a lot of fears, a lot of anxieties and worries, and many of them were about things that weren't even real. As soon as we started talking about these things that made her happy and you know, like, for example, I had a list of story starters, things that I knew she still remembered, for example, her garden where she grew up. I would say, let's talk about that garden behind your apartment building. What about the rabbit? Tell me about the rabbit that you had, that was your pet, and about the apple tree that your brother planted.

Speaker 2: 8:25

Remember that apple tree. Were they red apples or green apples? Were they yellow? How did they taste? Were they tart or sweet? You know, did you make apple turnovers or apple pies with your mom, or apple cooking?

Speaker 2: 8:46

And her mind would immediately go into a direction that was gratitude. And then I would say, oh, mom, I'm so thankful for that apple tree and oh, mom, I'm so thankful that you had a rabbit and God really took care of you as a child, even though you grew up during wartime. And she would say, yeah, he did, he really did. And so it turned those meetings of ours. Of course, I had like a little table with tea set up and we would. You know the the atmosphere was important too. It was like an atmosphere of gratitude and joy. Anyway, I just I remember those times with fondness, and my mom, of course, is in heaven now and has been for quite a few years. But we just went on this amazing trip, um, our family and we got to go to that apartment building and we got to visit that apple tree and it was so special to me and I got to give all kinds of gratitude to God for having that special experience and with my family too, with my kids and everything.

Speaker 1: 9:56

So super special. Yeah, that really is. You know, one of the things I have found to be true is that I can have the best of intentions to give gratitude, to have gratitude be kind of a tone and color of my life, but I tend to forget. Yes, I tend to forget to give gratitude and I want to not forget. Yeah, me too. Yeah, exactly, we kind of need reminders. Let's talk about that for a minute. Why do we even need reminders? Why do we forget?

Speaker 2: 10:27

Well, life is noisy. I mean, there's things coming at us every day all the time emails and texts, and you know, podcasts oh wait, this is a podcast. I mean, and then we've got work and we've got the kids, and we've got the parents and we've got all the different things that are happening, and so gratitude can easily get drowned out.

Speaker 1: 10:49

Yeah.

Speaker 2: 10:50

One place in scripture that is really honest about this is Psalm 103, verse two. Bless the Lord, oh my soul, and forget not all of his benefits. Forgetting is normal, honestly. As humans we forget all the time, we forget and we end up going into a more negative place. That's kind of our normal default. But here's the good news Remembering can be trained. We can train ourselves to be people of gratitude. And then it just comes up, it bubbles up when we're in the middle of different situations, especially the hard ones.

Speaker 1: 11:32

Well, we're going to talk a little bit today about some creative ways of giving gratitude, ways of remembering to give gratitude, and so let's just start with some of the ones that come most readily to many of us. Probably you know that gratitude journaling, for instance, where you just jot down three things each day, maybe before you go to bed or first thing in the morning. It's fast, it's simple, it's powerful, and for me to remember to do that, I can set a journal out in a prominent place. Maybe it's a coffee table or a kitchen counter, or in a chair that I know I'll be sitting in to remind me to jot down three things. It doesn't take very long, no it's so quick so yeah, for sure.

Speaker 2: 12:20

What's another way? Okay, how about a gratitude jar? And this is so fun to do with a family, or with your coworkers, or with grandkids, or? Your own kids or nieces or nephews, slips of praise that you reread on your low days. So you're going to just write little you know, cut out the papers ahead of time, just little slips of paper, or even you could use sticky notes, and then you're going to write down what you're grateful for, and those are available to you anytime, especially when you just really need that encouragement.

Speaker 1: 14:00

Yeah, I also like having whether it's scripture cards or maybe using sticky notes for that or just things that I know I've been grateful for where I will tape them up at different places in the house or in my car or at the office or wherever you know your eyes might fall, and then, when your eyes fall on that particular scripture card or sticky note or whatever it might be, you can give thanks right then you know whether it's out loud or done quietly in your heart. I think it has a profound impact, regardless it does it does.

Speaker 2: 14:37

How about the alarms on your phone, the reminders on your phone, a gentle little buzz that says what's one gift right now that you can thank God for? You know, you can put those in your reminders. When you were talking, heidi, I was thinking about the shower and I was thinking we all take showers, we all brush our teeth, things like that. You could put a sticky note in your shower, at a place that doesn't get wet, of course, or, you know, and it could be, let's just spend that shower time practicing gratitude.

Speaker 1: 15:11

Definitely. I know that there are pretty well regarded books out right now. One of them talks about habit stacking. So if you have something that you do habitually, like drinking coffee every morning right after you get out of bed or brushing your teeth or whatever it might be, you can attach to that another habit, like giving gratitude or writing three things in your gratitude journal, and that way you will associate it with something you're already well-practiced in doing habitually in a good way, and so that can be kind of helpful and it can help us to forget not all of his benefits.

Speaker 2: 15:52

Yes, I like to habit stack with housework. You know things that we all have to fold the laundry and put it away well, or put it back in the basket we all have. We all wash our dishes. You know, there's things that we all kind of do that are very daily, mundane tasks. I love to practice gratitude during those times and then one of my other very, very favorites is either taking a drive or a walk, depending on how I'm feeling that day. If I'm able to take a walk, I go and take a walk and I'm thankful for maybe the first 10 minutes of the walk. I'm practicing gratitude and praise at the same time.

Speaker 1: 16:36

And it is so uplifting.

Speaker 2: 16:38

It just fills me up.

Speaker 1: 16:41

Yeah, it really does. I think God wired us for that. Yes, in 1 Thessalonians 5.18, we read give thanks in all circumstances, for this is God's will for you in Christ Jesus. I have to say something about this verse really quick, and that is you know, a lot of times we wonder what is God's will for my life.

Speaker 2: 17:03

Well, here it is.

Speaker 1: 17:04

It says in 1 Corinthians 5, 18, giving thanks in all circumstances. And I also think it's a blessing that it says give thanks in all circumstances, not for all circumstances. I mean there's other places where we might be able to extrapolate that God wants us to be grateful for everything. I'm not so sure. I think he gets it when we struggle with that. But in all circumstances. You know, we don't need to wait for perfect conditions. Gratitude can begin right where we are, and so so very often, since gratitude kind of begins with noticing, we have something else for you, listener. We're going to visit a well where noticing changed everything.

Speaker 2: 17:50

Yes, this is a very famous well you know this story. It's from John, chapter 4, verses 28 and 29. So just kind of sit back for a minute and relax. If you're driving, keep your eyes open, if not, maybe you want to close your eyes and just kind of imagine this story with us. Midday heat wavers over the stones. Midday heat wavers over the stones. She walks alone, head down water jar creaking at her hip. One conversation with Jesus and the shame that, clung like dust, is rinsed clean. She forgets the jar, feet flying. She rushes back to town breathless with hope. Come see a man who told me everything I ever did is what she says. Gratitude turns a private wound into a public witness.

Speaker 1: 18:47

And then I love this idea.

Speaker 2: 18:49

Yeah, beautiful story, beautiful story and I love this idea right here. Gratitude loves to move. Have you ever thought of that? Gratitude loves to move from the heart to the mouth, to others, to the neighborhood, to where you work, to the next room, to you know, your home with your family. Gratitude loves to move.

Speaker 1: 19:17

And it might just be like it was for this woman at the well that it's come and see, come and meet him, come and find out what he's done. Let me tell you what happened.

Speaker 2: 19:25

I'm so excited, I can't keep it in.

Speaker 1: 19:28

Right, exactly Well, there are playful ways of kind of creating triggers. How often do we use the word trigger to indicate something positive?

Speaker 2: 19:40

We are going to do that though.

Speaker 1: 19:42

We can create positive, playful gratitude triggers. So we're going to make remembering what I have to be grateful for, or remembering giving gratitude, kind of fun. What about a playlist? Maybe, if you have Spotify or Pandora or iTunes, whatever it is, have a playlist of songs that cause your heart to just explode with joy and gratitude. There's so many awesome songs out right now that Christian artists have been writing and it's almost like God is on a theme with many of them for gratitude, and that is really cool. So create a gratitude playlist and play it and let your feet dance and maybe your heart give praise and thanks out loud.

Speaker 2: 20:27

Oh, I love, love, love that idea and that's a great way to bring movement into which is just so good for our bodies.

Speaker 2: 20:35

Okay, here's another idea. How about your lock screen on your phone? How about have it be a picture that shouts gift every time you unlock it? I actually have my family on my lock screen right now. Or maybe you want it to be a reminder to give thanks. You could have, you know, an image on there that says give thanks right now. What are you thankful for in this moment? It can take about two seconds to do this, but how often do we pick up our phones during the day? About 25,000 times. This is a great idea to remember. It's time to give thanks.

Speaker 1: 21:16

Mm-hmm, this is a great idea to remember it's time to give thanks. We can also kind of associate, you know, cause a trigger of gratitude and thanksgiving by maybe lighting a certain scented candle or diffusing an essential oil, a certain scent that can remind us to give gratitude. We can kind of associate it for ourselves. When I smell this scent it means I'm in a place where I'm giving gratitude, and that can be kind of fun too.

Speaker 2: 21:46

Yeah, I love that too, or maybe a lotion that smells really good that you're putting on your hands. I live in a very, very dry climate, and so everyone I know carries little bits of lotion in their purse and they're always putting it on their hands. That would be a great positive trigger.

Speaker 2: 22:05

Okay, here's another one Sneaky stickies. So sticky notes that you put in places where you're going to see them, no matter what. Notes that you put in places where you're going to see them, no matter what. Maybe it's your dashboard, maybe it's a note on a mirror, maybe it's at work, you know, on your computer or whatever. A mug that you love, that's your favorite, you're going to use for that coffee. Put a sticky note and they can be reminders. For what am I grateful for? Or you could even write, write on there yeah, what are you thankful for in that moment?

Speaker 1: 22:40

Awesome, you know, and some of us are a little more shy about this stuff than others, and so if, rather than having the actual phrase give thanks or remember to give God thanks for this or whatever, you don't even need to put words on the sticky, you can just have the sticky remind you without having any words on it at all.

Speaker 2: 23:01

So that's just it. Sticky notes these days in all kinds of shapes, and you know you could get a little heart so you could do whatever you want, just as a reminder for you, and it could be very private or for you, and it could be very private.

Speaker 1: 23:20

Yeah, another kind of a fun gratitude trigger might be having a bracelet or a ring that is, um, reminds you to give thanks. I did this once with a bracelet that had like a tassel that kind of got in the way. It sounds silly, but every time it bothered me. Instead of being bothered, I would give gratitude for something, and so you could do that. You could have a gratitude bracelet or a ring or some other piece of jewelry or something, and whenever you notice it, name one blessing out loud. It's kind of fun, yeah, I love that idea.

Speaker 2: 23:54

Here's another one that's really fun in a group, maybe with your friends or family, coworkers a blessing bell. So you grab the bell and you chime it and you have to say one thank you before you pass it to the next person at the table. I love that idea. I would say we have to go around five times. It'd be so much fun to do this. I love it.

Speaker 1: 24:21

Another great trigger can be when you go through a door from your home, maybe out into the world for the day, or whatever you do with your life, or back in through the door. Door, you can have the doorframe be your cue. So to practice this, you might even put your hand on the door and say thank you, lord, for as I enter, as I leave, I'm giving gratitude for whatever it might be, and that way the doorframe is actually your trigger.

Speaker 2: 24:48

I love that. And then I've mentioned this one already, the gratitude walk. But maybe you want to use your senses. You know what do I see, what can I feel and touch? Or maybe what am I feeling emotionally, what do I smell, what do I hear as you're walking? I love doing that in our neighborhood. There's so many beautiful things to be thankful for.

Speaker 1: 25:13

Well, speaking of senses, let's kind of go back in time again and step into a cool night where gratitude first smelled like hay.

Speaker 2: 25:25

Oh, okay, wonderful. This is the Shepherds at the Nativity, luke 2.20. So just kind of relax and listen and enjoy the story. Cold air, warm animals, a quiet sky, and then it tears open with music. Hearts are hammering, feet run. They kneel by a feeding trough cradling a king. Before sunrise they're back in the hills, laughing, telling, singing. They still smell like sheep, but now they sound like joy. The shepherds returned glorifying and praising God for all the things they had heard and seen. Gratitude actually makes the ordinary work a parade. I love it, isn't that so true? So?

Speaker 1: 26:22

so true.

Speaker 2: 26:24

So from Colossians 3.16,. Let the message of Christ dwell among you, richly singing to God with gratitude in your hearts.

Speaker 1: 26:34

I love that verse.

Speaker 1: 26:37

Well, I love the word of God for so many reasons, not the least of which is whether it's shepherds, who were the lowliest of low in the society at the time, or to throne rooms. You've got gratitude singing in every part of the world, everywhere. And so for this one, this little glimpse of somebody giving gratitude, we're in Isaiah 38, 19 and 20. Picture this a king. He has turned his face to the wall and tears are spotting the stone. The death sentence has just lifted. Fifteen more years land in his lap like sunlight. Strings are tuned and a melody rises right out of King Hezekiah's mouth the living, the living. They praise you, the Lord will save me and we will sing. Gratitude can echo past our lifetimes when we tell it.

Speaker 2: 27:36

Well, yes, let's get into a few reminders that are faith rooted and see if one of these kind of floats your boat. Okay, so open every prayer with three thank yous. That's so easy. We just start with the word Thank you. Do three thank yous before you talk to the lord about anything else.

Speaker 1: 28:00

I love that or how about highlighting every thanksgiving verse you find this month, whether you're like in your devotional time or community bible study, or bible study, fellowship or precept study, whatever it be, just highlight any verse that reminds you to give thanks or praise or thanksgiving or gratitude.

Speaker 2: 28:22

Yeah, sounds like fun to me it does. And then how about this one? Pick a song, an anthem, a hymn, whatever it is on gratitude and sing it every day. There is something that happens to my heart when I sing. It is, I mean, really it just changes me. It softens my heart toward the Lord. Especially when I'm fearful, when I'm upset, when I'm sad, when I'm stressed, singing out loud to the Lord changes me.

Speaker 1: 28:53

It really does to the Lord changes me it really does.

Speaker 2: 29:02

It does when God sets someone free. Gratitude often walks home with them. Oh, okay. So our next story is the man freed from a legion, and this is in Mark 5, yesterday chains clanging in a graveyard, eyes wild Today, calm, clothed, clear-eyed, by the shoreline he begs to follow, but Jesus sends him home instead. Tell how much the Lord has done for you, and he does, and towns that once avoided him now echo with his story. Gratitude Think about this for a minute. Gratitude is the first word on the lips of the newly free, isn't that so true? We get so excited and we can't hold it in.

Speaker 1: 29:56

True, we get so excited and we can't hold it in. If Jesus were to say to you today, go home and tell what the Lord has done, I wonder what one sentence would you share? Yeah, that's such a good question. Yeah, habits carry us when feelings fade, so it's always good to have ways of building gratitude in as a habit.

Speaker 2: 30:22

So we've got more tips for you, yeah. So how about this one, the one one, one rule, one thanks in the morning, one at midday, one at night, and you can easily pair these with your meals. If that's something you like to do, start every meal with Thanksgiving and you've got all three there, or maybe more if you'd like to eat many meals. So here's another idea. Thank you because so intentionally adding a reason, this actually deepens the neural imprint in your brain. It takes it so much deeper.

Speaker 1: 30:59

So thank you because here's another way of celebrating things to be grateful for. Create a gratitude photo album on your phone or maybe in real life, yes, Do people still do that?

Speaker 2: 31:14

Yes, I don't know.

Speaker 1: 31:16

I guess they do do people still do that? Yes, I don't know. I guess they do snap a picture of one little blessing or gift per day and then on fridays you can review the ones that you have taken that week.

Speaker 2: 31:27

That sounds like fun it does, okay, this one is so much fun. A weekly gratitude letter one paragraph emailed or handwritten. Now, this could be a letter to the Lord, this could be a letter to a person, this could be a letter to one of your kids or grandkids or your neighbor. One paragraph emailed or handwritten. I love this idea so powerful.

Speaker 1: 31:55

Here's another one Commute cue. So whether it's a red light when you're out and about in your car, or maybe it's a horn honking yeah, or maybe it's a traffic jam, these can be triggers reminding you to give thanks. And specifically, you might want to attach the trigger to this like prompt name one gift I'm driving toward. That's kind of fun.

Speaker 2: 32:22

Yeah, that's fun too. I love that. How about this one A mealtime blessing hack? So, before you eat, thank God for all the unseen hands that brought the food to you at the table the farmers, the drivers, the cashiers, the people that helped make the food in the kitchen. You know, that's just really a fun one that I think would be new to most of us.

Speaker 1: 32:49

Yeah, okay. So how about, before hard conversations that you know are coming, you can do what we call a conflict reset? Jot three things down that you appreciate about the person that you're going to be in a difficult conversation with.

Speaker 2: 33:06

Ooh, that's a good one.

Speaker 1: 33:08

Yeah, it really is. It can help soften the tone, it can tender your heart to them and remind you oh yeah, they aren't just about conflict with me. There are other nice things I want to remember about them.

Speaker 2: 33:21

Yeah, that's a really good one. How about this one? The Sabbath sweep and I keep thinking of a broom, because we do a lot of sweeping in our house because we have hardwood floors, but it doesn't have to mean that. So how about this Five minutes to list the week's graces? Pray, psalm 92, verse one and two. It is good to give thanks to the Lord, to declare your steadfast love in the morning and your faithfulness by night. I love that idea.

Speaker 1: 33:53

Every good and perfect gift is from above, says James 1.17. And I love, that gratitude can name the giver behind the gifts he receives. Our worship and praise that way.

Speaker 2: 34:05

Well, and just when you practice gratitude with somebody, especially about that, somebody just watch them light up, watch their eyes start to twinkle or even tear up. I mean, this is powerful stuff. It goes so much deeper than just the mind. It goes right down into our hearts. So let's peek into two quieter corners of scripture, where thankfulness blossoms. What story do we have next, heidi?

Speaker 1: 34:36

We have two little stories. One is about Anna the prophetess and another one coming up the widow's offering. Anna the prophetess is a story found in Luke, chapter two, verse 36 to 38. And just imagine this, if you will the temple halls are cool and dim and an old woman with bright eyes moves through the shadows like a prayer on feet. She has spent decades fasting and waiting, waiting for her Messiah, and then she sees him. She gave thanks to God and spoke about the child to all. I love that. Her gratitude is steady. It's seasoned and contagious. Some things take a lifetime to ripe. She had given her life to waiting and praying and fasting for the Messiah who, of course, came as Jesus while she was still alive. Can you imagine? I love?

Speaker 2: 35:39

it. I love it. Yeah, long obedience flowers into loud Thanksgiving. Have you seen that in yourself? Have you seen that in somebody else? Long obedience flowers into loud Thanksgiving, and it's beautiful. Okay, so now we have the widow's offering from Luke 21, verses 1 through 4. The courtyard hums with coins clinking into metal mouths. A widow shuffles forward fingers closing around two thin copper pieces. She drops them in barely a whisper, against the din. Jesus hears it anyway. He hears everything this poor widow has put in more than all the others is what he says. Gratitude doesn't always sound like a symbol. Sometimes it's a quiet. Yes, that God calls more.

Speaker 1: 36:41

Through Jesus, therefore, let us continually offer to God a sacrifice of praise, the fruit of lips that openly profess his name. Hebrews 13, 15. We've got a little bit more for you, yeah a little bit more In the relational category of you know, kind of relating to others with gratitude. Notice that thankfulness kind of multiplies when we share it.

Speaker 2: 37:08

Yes, it really, really does. So we've talked about this a little bit, but how about sending a short thank you text or a voice memo today? Think of a person that would really be blessed by that. It could take you 10 seconds, 15 seconds it can be so quick, and it might just be exactly what that person needs.

Speaker 1: 37:31

How about a starting, a household gratitude board? I I kind of pictured this as a I haven't ever done it before, so I'm going to give this one a try. I think where you have a bulletin board up on the wall, perhaps maybe it would be in a highly trafficked area of the house, maybe in the kitchen or by the entry or exit, and everyone can add a little something every day. It might be a written note, it might be a little photograph, it might be something you've clipped out, or maybe it's a memento of some sort, like if you went to a concert the night before, you could put your little ticket stub there. It just sounds so much fun, almost like a community scrapboard that's for celebrating good gifts that God has given us.

Speaker 2: 38:14

I love that. I love that idea too. I actually saw this idea in a restaurant bathroom and what they had done. They had little clothes lines that they had put up on the wall in the bathroom with little clothespins, little tiny ones. And then they had these pieces of paper and it said what are you thankful for? And there were hundreds of them, hundreds of them, and people had written all these different things. It was so much fun to read what people were thankful for. It was really neat.

Speaker 1: 38:49

Well, how about let's kind of land this, this ship, here with a simple plan for the coming week? Y'all have heard all these ideas. There's all kinds of ideas for kind of reminding ourselves that we want to practice gratitude and different ways of practicing gratitude. So what if you were to pick two different practices and it can be from our lists or it can be from your own but two practices you're going to try for the next seven days, and I would suggest writing them down as soon as you can and then place one of these as a reminder where you're going to run into it. It might be the mirror, the car, the phone, whatever it might be and then next week look back, notice which one of these two practices carried you the farthest or seemed to have the biggest, bestest impact, and you can either try the same ones for another week or rotate them out.

Speaker 2: 39:51

So let's go ahead and close with Psalm 126.3. The Lord has done great things for us and we are filled with joy when we make room to notice the great things. Joy follows us like a shadow in bright sun. Amen, amen, lord. Teach our hearts to remember, our lips to praise, our hands to bless, fill us with the Holy Spirit. That gratitude would be our default posture in the small things, in the hard things, in the ordinary things, but especially in the hard things. Thank you, lord, amen, amen. Thanks for joining us. We are so glad that you've been with us today and we hope that you might join us for our next episode of Revelation Within.

Speaker 1: 40:53

On the go.

Speaker 2: 40:56

See you next time. Bye-bye.