People carry pictures of their children in their wallets but rarely carry pictures of their parents in their wallets.

I am grateful for my Dad today…and every day.

I am grateful for my health today.

I am grateful for a Valentine box ready to mail.

I am grateful to have heard what Maddie said in choir yesterday about wanting to be in my counselor group again. She made me feel very loved. I am grateful for Maddie.

I am grateful to have had the opportunity to attend my first training session to become a CASA advocate.

I am grateful for a new week.

I am grateful for groceries.

I am grateful for this insight from Nancy Pauls yesterday in my church devotions:

Transformation means conversion, change, renovation, or makeover. To me, transformation means increasingly seeing the world through God’s eyes. Ideas that used to be hard for me to grasp were like trying to read the newspaper without my reading glasses. Now, though prayer and God’s grace, I can see more visibly from God’s perspective.

Transformation also means, to me, a gradual warming of the heart. My heart used to be like a frozen over pond, one that you could ice skate on. Now it is like a pond with such a thin layer of ice, you wouldn’t dare to walk on it. The water is bubbling up and pouring out through cracks on the surface.

A test to see if I am actually growing closer to Christ is to ask myself questions based on the fruit of the Spirit. Such as, am I more loving and less angry then I was five years ago? Am I more at peace and less anxious than I was five years ago? Am I more generous and less stingy than I was five years ago?

I am grateful that the squirrels and birds have discovered the seeds.

I am grateful for kitty litter on the driveway.

Because it is a topic on the radio right now, I am grateful that I am not offended by last night’s Coca-Cola commercial and love the fact that we are a diverse nation.

I am grateful for a little boy who wasn’t shy and sat down in our booth to watch the Duke game with us.

I am grateful for a cleaned-out pantry.

And I am grateful that I have a few pictures of my daughters in my wallet, even though they are faded, bent, and outdated, and I WILL print a picture of my parents before I leave work today and put it in my wallet to proudly carry.