Day 42

It's milestone celebration day!  Yep, we hit 4,500 reasons first thing this morning.  Congratulations everyone!  How fun to celebrate a milestone after yesterday's celebration post!  Each day we get closer and closer to our 10,000 reasons.  Thank you for faithfully joining me on this quest for 10,000 reasons to give thanks.  God is changing me through this experiment... and I hope He's changing you too.  Here's a picture of our Thankfulness Tree.  My three year old hung the ornament on today (it's on the bottom left branch.)

When it comes to cleaning, I'm not a big fan.  Don't get me wrong... I do enjoy a clean house.  But dusting just seems to move the dust around so it can settle again somewhere else.  I tend to get a bit frustrated when I dust and 5 minutes later it has returned... maybe I need some new cleaning tools... 

On Saturday morning, I had a goal... to get my entire house cleaned before we left for Cincinnati.  I knocked out part of the house on Friday, so I just had a few rooms left.  The boys were playing nicely together upstairs, and my hubby was out, so I decided to try something new... clean to the sound of praise and worship music.  And then, I got even more crazy... I cranked it up and sang along... loudly.  It actually made cleaning more enjoyable. 

And now for the funny part... my seven year old came downstairs to inform me that he heard me singing through the furnace vent in his room.  You see, there's a furnace vent in the living room where I was cleaning and his room is right above it.  I was surprised, and I have to admit, a little embarrassed, because I thought my concert was for an audience of one.  Glad my son got to enjoy it too. 

On Saturday, I was "... singing psalms, hymns and spiritual songs with gratitude in my heart to God" (Colossians 3:16) and it was fun.  I was jamming to 10,000 Reasons (I know you're surprised by this one), Forever Reign and One Thing Remains... my three favorite worship songs.  These songs touch me and that ignites the gratitude in my heart.  But I'm not always singing songs with gratitude.  I'm guilty of going through the motions on Sundays... can anyone else relate?  But wow, when I'm singing with gratitude, it's such a powerful way to experience God and I think He gets so much joy from our thankful heart songs.  And the cool thing about singing with gratitude is that it turned my mundane dusting task into something enjoyable.  Who knew that thankfulness could make cleaning more fun?  Thanksgiving is such a powerful tool... it's a mind transformer, a smile maker, a circumstance changer... the list could go on and on.  If fact, I wonder what names you would add to the list...

So let's practice "being thankful" (Colossians 3:15) and "singing psalms, hymns and spiritual songs with gratitude in our hearts" (Colossians 3:16).  Watch out... there could soon be praise and worship concerts all over the place. 

Tonight, I am thankful for...

1.  My hubby who works and provides for our family so I can stay home with our boys
2.  The sound of the furnace kicking on after a chilly night
3.  Electricity that keeps our house warm
4.  Alarm that wakes me up
5.  Automatic car starter so the car can heat up while I'm inside - what a clever invention!
6.  Kashi Pumpkin Spice Flax Granola Bars
7.  Learning that I had the wrong date for my son's class party... thank you, God, for the parent who asked the question BEFORE Friday
8.  What God Wants for Christmas
9.  Building a present tower with my three year old and watching his delight as it crashed to the ground
10.  Sunshine warming my house
11.  Blankets
12.  Amazing neighbors and friends who watched my boys tonight
13.  Learning about all the different angles of thankfulness in the Bible
14.  The adventure of following scripture trails and what you can learn from them
15.  Rotini pasta
16.  Chatting with friends
17.  Appetizers
18.  God doing immeasurably more this week with weekday child care... so faithful for each event
19.  Listening to my son read the Bible
20.  Giving gifts

Here's to 10,000 reasons... Only  5,378 to go...