I am grateful today for the time to sit in this cozy living room, hearing the birds singing outside.

I am grateful today for the beauty of a mountain covered in pines, with a brilliant blue sky backdrop and lazy clouds floating by.

I am grateful today for a cool morning to relax and enjoy and soak in the many gifts that I so often overlook.

I am grateful today for the problems in my life, because today I am once again reminded how minuscule those problems really are, and I am reminded that they make life interesting and allow me the room to grow and to depend.

I am grateful today for memories made yesterday, for our friends Julie and David, for laughter, for tired legs after hiking, for a room to return to after a full day.

I am grateful today for new friends.

I am grateful today for  an absence of technology, with the exception of this computer, of course. I am grateful that the TV is not blaring, the cell phone is not being used, and I can sit in quiet and appreciate the silence.

I am grateful today for songs that are filling my mind. Two choral songs from years past – The Majesty and Glory of Your Name by Fettke, and How Can I Keep From Singing? by Lowry. I did these with my choirs, and God has placed them back into play in my internal jukebox this morning.

And I am grateful today for this song, another one that will accompany me throughout the day: