True gratitude takes place when we can love the life we have been given even when it isn’t the life that we had planned.

My first Thanksgiving of widowhood was extremely hard. I had 3 little kids excited about Christmas and family time and I had just “celebrated” my 11th wedding anniversary alone. I clearly remember sitting around my grandmothers table and thinking of our first Thanksgiving without my grandpa. She was a poised and resilient widow and I knew if she did it all those years before me then I could too. She’s been gone for 2 years now and I wish I would have told her how much her strength in her widow journey meant to me. She taught me how to be a beautifully resilient and to gratefully grieve long before I realized I needed to know it all.

My level of gratitude has grown over the years though it didn’t come without tears and mindfulness. The experiences throughout the years have been hard though each time I face what seems insurmountable I stop, listen to my heart because I know God is right there meeting me where I am at and giving me the strength and guidance to find my way through it. These moments and experiences have helped me to believe this is the life I was meant to live and I am grateful I was chosen to be given the gift no one wants.

We get to choose each moment, each day if we let our circumstances dictate our response or if we respond to our circumstances in gratefulness.

Will you choose to grieve gratefully?

Happy Thanksgiving!

Lyn