Forward Today: Seeking Beauty & Practicing Gratitude

In this week’s edition of our weekly newsletter from Scott Gunn and the Forward Movement team, Scott offers a suggestion for the season: Work on seeking beauty and practicing gratitude in your daily life. You’ll probably healthier. You’ll definitely be happier. And you’ll be a better evangelist of the Good News.


Dear friends in Christ,

Today, as I was thinking about what to write this week, a colleague walked into my office. We exchanged pleasantries, which included me mentioning that I wish spring would arrive soon. It’s a beautiful, sunny day here, but it’s a bit chilly. My colleague said she’s working on a new attitude, that every day is a beautiful day. Even when it’s gray and rainy, there is still beauty.

She’s right. b98f4426-3738-42ef-8c02-47a1712a72d9

As a culture, we spend too much time complaining and not enough time being grateful. I know that’s surely true for me. Studies show that complaining is actually bad for our health. People who complain a lot are less healthy and less happy. While we can’t control everything that comes our way, we do have some control over what we make of it.

A rainy day means that our earth is receiving vital sustenance. Rain makes the blooming trees that I enjoy on a sunny, spring day possible. Those rainy days bring their own kind of beauty.

I wonder what my life would be like if I were more faithful in seeking beauty and practicing gratitude.

 

What would your life be like if you tried this grateful, open way of seeing the world? Might we see more blessings around us? Might we be more quick to share the Good News of a God who loves and blesses us and our world?

Yours faithfully,

Scott Gunn
Executive Director


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