let the grateful heart

Does having a lot to be grateful for make me a grateful person?  

Nope.   

He gives me the choice--but has asked me to be--a grateful person.  

The Haitian follow-up to almost any comment on well-being is "Gras a Dieu" or..."By the Grace of God."  Learning this, and using it commonly, has adjusted my perspective.  

How are you today?  Oh, I am good, by the Grace of God.

It IS by the grace of God.  And so I am grateful.

My husband and I had the chance to teach today, to work today, to meet with students today.  It is by the grace of God.  I'm grateful.  

We also had the chance to celebrate today, to be with friends, to talk to family, to mar the lines of which is which.  It's by His grace.  I'm grateful.

We have sweet and sassy munchkins and raising them up in the way they should go is SO hard, SO exhausting, SO good and SO precious.  It's by His grace, and I'm grateful.

And life in Haiti...it's not too glam.  Not always exciting.  Awfully heartbreaking (Ti-Boss passed away yesterday.  Cadet came again for money today.  She notes she is "following him" and afraid).  

The realities of brazen brokenness here have aged me, I know.  

And He has given me joy, in the midst. 

It's (all) by His grace.   

And I'm grateful.

let the grateful heart

sweep through the day

that it might recognize in every hour

some sweet blessing