What are you grateful for?
One thing that I want to start doing every 4th Wednesday of the month is a featured Gratitude Post.
This post will be something, someone, or some set of events that have helped shape my life experience and make me the person I am today.
The first Gratitude Post I would like to have here on Three Key Life is this:
1963
In Edinburg, Scotland a little girl was born.
She was brought into this world by a beautiful mother who was facing her own battles. The battles were so severe that she had to give her amazing little girl up for adoption, separating her from her relatives, brothers, sisters, and father.
At that same time there was an American couple who was planning to take a voyage to England and then Scotland for a building mission with the church they belonged to.
The man was an exceptional carpenter, overcoming difficulties in his early life to recognize the gift that he had with his hands.
The woman was sweet-hearted and kind to everyone, overcoming struggles and illnesses of her own to become the woman she was.
Despite finding out the young woman was unable to have children, the couple still wished to raise kids.
So during their time constructing new churches in England and Scotland, they also spent time visiting local orphanages, hoping to find a child who they could love and cherish.
That little girl I spoke of was 2 years old when the couple decided to visit one particular place and saw this little angel for the first time.
They knew immediately that she was the one they were in Scotland to find.
That little girl was my mother, Allison.
That couple was my Grandma Beth and my Grandpa Leith.
This event is the cause for this first gratitude post.
Each Event Changes The Course of the World
This is one of the countless events that made my experience of Life possible.
For this I am thankful.
I’ve spent time thinking about the significance of this event in my life.
I’ve wondered, who would I be, where would I be, what would I be, if that sacred connection was never established, if my Grandma was able to have kids or if my mother was never given up for adoption.
I have no answers for that because this event helped to make me everything I am.
What’s so incredible is that each and every one of us have these unseen set of circumstances that took place and were essential to creating the person we are today.
Think back generations ago when your great great grandma met your great great grandpa, or when your mother met your father.
The set of circumstances can go deep.
My father’s roots run back through the slavery of the south, ultimately beginning in Mother Africa.
As hateful and ignorant as slavery was, it acted as a channel that brought me into this world. If my grandparents on my father’s side didn’t come from these deep roots of slavery in Arkansas and Mississippi, then my father would never have been, and I could never have become me, Jeffon.
Dare I say I am grateful for the set of circumstances that enabled me to take this breath?
I am grateful, but not ignorant.
What about your own life?
What events made you the person you are today?
Think about it.
By spending time reflecting back through our roots we find endless things to be thankful for.
I have to admit that there are plenty of people who’ve told me they have very little to be grateful for.
I think we’ve all known someone who hasn’t been able to forgive a certain person or situation that continues to drain the happiness from them.
I know that I’ve suffered from the bitterness of un-forgiveness. Each time I succumb to that bitterness, I’ve noticed I restrict the natural flow of gratitude by choosing to focus on that which I am not grateful for.
But as I look at the deeper connections of my life, the connections that created my family throughout all of history, the connections that have brought this planet to be, I re-open the doors of gratitude.
Now I recognize there are infinite things that we have to be grateful for.
Endless Gratitude
There are numerous things that we could do to begin creating this gratitude I speak of above.
A few of these things are:
1. Know that you are a product of endless connections throughout time. We are much more than just the offspring of our mothers and fathers, we are from the endless Universe. As we begin to recognize these grateful connections throughout our histories we begin to cultivate endless feelings of gratitude for the whole, gratitude for the Life that supports us.
2. Find ways to forgive people and situations that drain gratitude from your life. We can bring gratitude into our lives by learning the importance of forgiveness. By this I don’t mean turning a blind eye to what happened, but by embracing and knowing that we are not a prisoner of what happened or happens to us. Our greatest struggles can be our greatest stepping stones for growth or they can be shackles that we wear through life.
3. Embrace more of the gratitude and appreciation that people and life have for you. Remind yourself often of the people that care for and appreciate you. Embrace the gratitude and appreciation Life has for you. Honor all that goes into providing you with each moment of the day, feel gratitude.
So my friends, I ask you:
What events are you grateful for that have helped to influence your experience of life?
(Think Back)
Let us know in the comments below.
Together we can be the inspiration for one another.
I am grateful for you guys.
Thank you for spending a moment of your day visiting Three Key Life.
Be great today.
Peace
Happiness
Compassion
Respect
This is such an amazingly written post! So grateful for that year that mom was born, and so grateful that we were blessed with the amazing grandparents that we had. Love you JJ. This is perfect!
This is amazing. You always help me look at things in a different way. It’s so easy to overlook the little things. You inspire me. I love you.
Thank you Teeny for your kind words. There is so many things to be grateful for. You are one of them.
Love you little sister.
Hey Alyse,
Thank you for being the source of so much joy and happiness in my life. I am so grateful for both you and Teeny. I couldn’t have asked for better sisters to have with me in this journey of life.
Love you little sister.
Jeffon- I enjoyed hearing your story of personal gratitude for those who gave you life in special and unique circumstances which may have been very difficult at the time. The power of love took over and a path was carved as planned for you and your family to evolve. As it did evolve in a wonderful way I can tell! You have a beautiful and unique mother , Allison brought up under special circumstances , not only chose by parents to love her , but also chosen by faithful people based on beliefs that you value too. I assume these beliefs were a struggle at first to test and then accept or just a natural progression for you, but I look forward to hearing how you did reach your part in the so called family giving to others in your helpful and powerful messages of which I for one am greatful.
Your mother, Allison and Your Father a strong Southern man born with many odds against him must have had to overcome many odds too get to this point with a respectful , intelligent young son and two lovely daughters. I know how hard it is for a black man in or Mississippi. I live in Oxford, Mississippi. Home to Ole Miss and William Faulkner and to the racial tensions that were so many as I was a baby when the civil rights battles and Jim Crowe laws were here. My father was a Air Force Military Man and my Mother was an Air Force Military Brat at the end of WWII. Her father ( my grandfather) was a POW in a terrible war prison for almost two years. My Mama received only one small postcard from him written in barely legible pencil . When he was returning his vehicle was overturned and after all that time in prison he saw paralysis on his way home. My Mom was a senior in High school in England. This is where her life began of pure service. This was her step father and she had three young step baby brothers and sisters. In the military we did not understand discrimination as children.,we were never separated in schools are kept from each other. We were a family. We depended on each other away from our homes and family.
It was so hard in Mississippi and the South everywhere . Think about your own parents struggles. But here you are ! A beautiful person I respect and admire and I am so happy to listen to. You also have too loving sisters who adore you.
I am an ex school teacher now actively pursuing my MFA in English. I hope soon to get my fellowship to Assistant teach at college while earning my Masters and head write into my Doctorate . I feel communication and Kowledge is power right now for all of us. We have to learn confidence in ourselves through gaining knowledge and sharing it with all. We cannot let ignorance through lies and deception of the evil who choose free choice to benefit only themselves and ignore the choice to learn right and wrong and good between evil. Pure evil is lurking in every corner in its deceptive ways to trick all of us into going against what we know and feel is not right. We need to hope and pray with everyone for peace, love, and reconciliation. We do not want any more bloodshed . Only these terrorists without a conscious or any regrets motivated by greed and power keep people confused and dragging up old and ancient battles to feed the fires that are everywhere being started again.
Please keep sharing your story . It is inspiring . As an avid reader and a writer, the true storie are most inspirational. Especially memories of inspiring experiences. I always say , ” You are a story. I am a story. Everyone is a story. In this grand library of life we all have wonderful and worthy stories to tell or write. Please share. They are truly helpful to someone who has waked in similar shoes.”
I am grateful to you , Jeffon and all who are a part of you.
Dawn Copley
Dawn,
Wow… That’s one of the best comments I’ve ever received. Thank you.
You are right about how all the circumstances we’ve experienced, all the circumstances that our parents, grandparents and ancestors faced has went into creating the being we are today. Our stories are all so unique. It’s important for all of us to honor our expression. I wish you the best success in your academic studies.
Thank you again for your kind and encouraging words Dawn.
Peace & Respect,
Jeffon