Today I am So Happy and Grateful

Such is human psychology that if we don't express our joy, we soon cease to feel it.

~ Lin Yutang

Yutang's quote made me think back to a daily practice I adopted almost ten years ago now.  I've long been the nerdy planner-carrying overachiever type.  For the last ten years I've been penning in some section of my planner lists of things that I was thankful for that day.  On the rare day I'm too busy to list something, I really feel odd.  Why has this daily ritual become so important to me?

The practice started in the spring of 2001 after I had just received a scary skin cancer diagnosis. As my husband and I anxiously awaited my treatment, I had some poignant time for reflection and soul-searching.  I'll never forget the sound of the voice on the other end of the phone at work that morning delivering the news.  "Mrs. Hall, your biopsy came back and I'm sorry to say it was cancerous."  The voice was calming and sympathetic, but all I heard in my mind was "You have cancer.. you're going to die."  Then my mind took me through a guilt trip... "It's just SKIN cancer, quit being such a baby!  You've known so many others who have suffered much worse," the mean voice would say.  Never mind the fact that my cancer was melanoma, already in intermediate stages.  It didn't take me long to realize how serious it could be left untreated.

At that moment I sternly reminded myself, regardless the outcome, how precious life was and that I was nowhere near ready to stop living.  Each moment is extremely precious and I didn't want to be a poor steward and waste any time I was blessed with from then on.  I already had so much to be thankful for, and I was sure there were many more blessings to come.

So, since then, each day I am sure to jot down a few things that make me so happy and grateful.  Every now and then I go back and read over the lists and am always so amazed at how God works in my life.  I'm happy to say my melanoma was successfully treated surgically and all is in remission.  It was a frightening wake-up call, but was one that vividly opened my eyes to all the joy around me just waiting to be seen.

Tell me, what makes you so happy and grateful?