Gratitude Tuesday

It seems to be the in thing to have a day of the week set aside to blog about. I have decided to make my day Gratitude Tuesdays. Why Tuesdays? Mainly because it rhymes... and I need to be more grateful on a daily basis. So, here goes the first G.T.

Today I am grateful for apples, lots and lots of them. We had a member in a nearby town that owns an apple orchard donate all of the left over apples from the season to our ward and bishops storehouse. The amount donated was over 5 tons of apples!! We somehow ended up with 3 boxes of apples and I have been putting off doing anything with them .... until today.

I spent most of my day making applesauce. It filled the house with such a pleasant aroma and I felt like I was doing my own little part when it comes to being a good homemaker, making wholesome food from organic apples, and stocking up in the food storage area, so overall it was a good day. I was so grateful for all of the apples this morning, and became a little more weary of them towards the evening, but once my first box was empty, the dishes done and the applesauce all stacked up on my counter I was pretty pleased with myself, and the apples.

It made me think about a concept spoken of in The Secret, my book on tape that is driving everyone crazy in the house except for me. It talks about how there is no finite amount of wealth in the world. So, looking at the three boxes of apples, realizing that I could have easily asked for much more and it would have readily been given to me, I realized sometimes we are a little short sighted in all that our Heavenly Father does and can do for us each day. When we need a blessing, it isn't like we get an answer of " Oh, I am so sorry, we are all out and won't get another shipment in until next Monday. " No, we are just blessed, each and everyday.

We also sometimes forget how blessed we are and take for granted all of the blessings we do have, like the other two boxes of apples that I am none too thrilled about making something out of over the next week or so. I mean, I already have plenty of applesauce, so why bother making more? I could just toss the two boxes out, it wouldn't hurt anyone. Lack of gratitude can hold us back from receiving more blessings, so we should always be grateful for the little and abundant things as well-- hence the Gratitude Tuesdays.

So, the next time you eat an apple, think of the 5 tons we were all blessed with and realize there is more than enough for us to be blessed with from a loving Father in Heaven.