Attitude of Gratitude

Anna and I had a fun Saturday morning. Her swim team participated in a swim clinic led by Olympians Josh Davis (1996, 2000) and Larsen Jensen (2004, 2008). I was a bad mom and forgot the camera, but they had a photographer there so maybe later I can update this post with a picture of her wearing three Olympic gold medals, standing between Davis and Jensen. She learned a lot about technique, but even more impressive was listening to the two athletes talk. And something Josh Davis said really impacted me.

"How loud are you saying 'thank you' with your life?"

He told a neat story of getting to know a soldier badly injured in the Iraq war and how this soldier said he was not sad about all the things he couldn't do anymore, but rather was thankful to be alive and have a loving family. Josh challenged the group to live their lives in a manner that reflects that level of thankfulness. A few moments later he briefly shared his faith in Christ, so clearly there were some spiritual undertones to his whole talk.

This message is not new to me. We attend a church in which we are frequently reminded that our good deeds are how we show gratitude for what Christ did on the cross. But for some reason (maybe I was just star struck) today it really hit me. Am I displaying an attitude of gratitude in my daily life as a homeschool mom and wife, or am I just trying to survive another day? Just by posing the question I think you can guess the answer.

After the clinic Anna and I had lunch at my favorite place, Panera, and she said she had to fight back tears at that same point in Davis' talk. She was excited that he talked about his faith. I was excited that this is what I was getting to talk about with my daughter over lunch.

So maybe by putting this in print I will be reminded all week to let my actions shout THANK YOU!