Maps
Isn't this photo adorable!
Oh dearest Maps, I would be super ungrateful if I didn't include her in these thanksgiving tributes. After all, 30 people in 30 days was her idea.
I truly find the Lord's puzzle work of life incredible! It doesn't matter how long or short a person is in your life. What does matter are the lessons you learned from them and the memories you share. Maps and I met a few years back. Congenial really. We had mutual friends. She was (and is) a bright happy light. It was easy to become friends with her. What I've never told her is how greatly she's influenced my life... and its been a lasting influence. Ironically enough, she's taught me the life lesson of gratitude. How perfectly appropriate.
One of my earliest memories of Maps was sitting around a campfire during a week long service project we were participating in. I noticed each night she would be writing in her journal. What I soon discovered was that it was a gratitude journal and that each day she would record the things she was grateful for that day. She had numbered each one and over the years she explained that she had accumulated several books full of these gratitude lists.
Years later I was working for a summer youth camp and was having a particularly hard time spiritually. A revelatory thought struck me and I remembered these books Maps had written. What a wonderful idea! So I tried it out... by the end of the summer my little booklet was full and so was my Spirit. I've carried on the tradition for several years now (better at times than others), but it has been a source of strength in my life for which I will always be grateful for.
In a recent Religion class I shared Maps' example of gratitude and these books she has written. My sweet perceptive professor (Elder Hammond) smiled and said that he can only image what it will be like for her at Judgement. Those books will be presented to the Lord and he will escort right into the Celestial kingdom. I couldn't help but smile myself because I'm sure that can't be far from the truth.
Thank You Maps for teaching me the power of gratitude.
2 comments:
I love your 30 gratefuls Carlee. You are simply amazing!
Carlee! This was so fun to see! What a surprise, and such a sweet post. I loved your post above too because it describes the power of gratitude.
We had a crazy wind storm her two nights ago (winds at 100 mph). The power was out for a whole day and all think about was how grateful I was to be warm, have shelter, food, and a safe place for my family. I am grateful for gratitude too. And you know, part of gratefulness game from reading your post (shortly before the power died out) about me being grateful. Haha, it reminded me to continue looking on the bright side.
What your religion professor said was sweet, but I have to admit that I haven't written in my gratitude journals for years. So thanks for inspiring me to pick them up again. : )
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