How to Improve Gratitude: Savor the Moment
Philippians 4:8–Whatsoever is good… Even your husband’s ice cream!
By Carol McClain @carol_mcclain
Before my husband started counting carbs, we’d each grab a bowl of ice cream, crawl into bed and watch NCIS together.
I’d wolf mine down like our ravenous Springer spaniel and be licking the bowl before he got to his second bite.
I’d watch him eat.
Drool.
Look at my empty bowl and then get annoyed at his little slurping noises. I’d complain. He’d tell me he savored each little bite. His enjoyment lasted fifteen minutes. Mine about five.
He taught me a lesson, one I’m trying to incorporate into my life. Savor the moment.
Life is not a series of chores to accomplish and check off your list. If you take a moment to savor the little things, you’ll find more happiness and more gratitude.
Things I’ve savored today:
- Vines growing across a telephone wire that look like my legs when I need to shave. No, not something to relish, but the image that made me stop and laugh will make it into a novel.
- Buzzards flying lazy circles overhead. They looked so content letting the updrafts drift them along. With tail feathers fanned and wings outspread, I can forget how ugly they are. I do appreciate the job God gave them. Can you imagine the world filled with dead animals taking their sweet time to decompose?
- Little brown birds flitting in the wintered vegetation. Their camouflage disguises them as wind-blown leaves. It’s amazing how God created animals with the ability to disappear in plain sight. I see a deer on the side of the road, and the next second it evaporates into the trees.
- The sound of wind rustling in the trees. Something calms me in the sound. The foliage isn’t pretty in December, but the crackling sound of the breeze soothes.
- The taste of peppermint in my mouth. It cools, even as the hot coffee warms. If I take my time and sip, the cup lasts longer and the flavor lingers.
Life is short. Savor the moments. Look at the sun shining on the crystals of snow. They sparkle like jewels.
Study the pattern ice makes. In the South, frost flowers bloom. Up North, snow drifts in interesting patterns.
The smell of a wood fire or the cool air on your cheeks.
These are the moments of our lives. Love them.
“Now there is great gain in godliness with contentment, for we brought nothing into the world, and we cannot take anything out of the world. But if we have food and clothing, with these we will be content” (1 Tim 6:6-8).
Author Carol McClain
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