is your homeostasis gratitude?
Hey friends!!
Wow, it’s already March & time is flying!
As a nanny, I have found an incredible opportunity to watch family dynamics, and a variety of relational & parenting techniques. It is such an amazing perspective to get to see how people build their family cultures, what is important to them, & ways that parents can impact or guide their children. God’s design for families continues to fascinate me, & He has blessed us with opportunities for change & variety, & there really are many great ways to parent.
I have nannied for many families, and one family in particular has many daily character traits & routines that I aspire to. I would love to emulate many aspects of their parenting if I am ever a parent someday. In their family culture, they have prioritized hearts of gratitude, speaking & acting with patience & kindness, & choosing joy in every moment. Honestly, I feel like a lot of people aspire to those traits, and to have these things show in our words & actions requires lots of self discipline & dying to self.
So, gratitude! Maybe you are like me, and often pray every day before you eat & thank God for blessing you with food. Maybe that’s the only moment you remember to stop & thank God for what is before you. Maybe you find yourself thankful in those moments that things works out well, traffic was better on your commute, or everyone in your family is healthy. These are all great things, AND we are called to even greater gratitude.
“Rejoice always, pray continually, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.”
1 Thessalonians 5:16-18
“Enter His gates with thanksgiving and His courts with praise; give thanks to Him and praise His name.”
Psalm 100:4
“So, whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God.”
1 Corinthians 10:31
“Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights, who does not change like shifting shadows.”
James 1:17
I’ve gotten to stay with this nanny family for a week on a few different circumstances, & saw their consistent intentionality in gratitude. Every morning around the breakfast table, they would pray & the kiddo’s mom would hold open her hand. She would ask the kids for their ‘high fives’. In addition to being adorable with toddlers, I was watching them learn a consistent heart posture. The kids would each hold open their hands & quickly list 5 things they were thankful for – one for every finger. My toast today. My pink pajamas. Mommy and Daddy. The sunny day. My toothpaste. Sunday school and toys there. Our friend visiting. Mommy to hug me when I scraped my knee. The audiobook in the car. My baby doll. Our house. My blanket.
The things these sweet little people named ranged from mundane, basic things to bigger or more profound aspects of life. They were starting off their days with thankful hearts & recognizing that even the basics of their lives were blessings. My phone alarm is labeled “high five of gratitude”, and every morning at 6am, I strive to stop & name five things I’m thankful for. A little way to stop & realize that the fact that I have breath in my lungs & woke up this morning is enough to be joyful. Even if I have a long, challenging, mundane, or exciting day ahead, every moment can be looked at as an opportunity to serve the Kingdom of God. Isn’t that mindset inspiring?
I spend many moments throughout my days doing regular life & maintaining responsibilities & working. It doesn’t feel like Kingdom work most of the time. It feels like another diaper to change. Another dish to wash. Driving through traffic. Attending night class. Walking the dog. Paying the bills. Writing assignments for school. And when considering these days in God’s design, all our moments: whether joyful, mundane, good or bad, are glorious opportunities. If you are living a similar lifestyle to me, you probably spend time working, trying to pay your bills, take care of your family, and fit in time to grocery shop & sleep. Things go wrong, people get sick, the car breaks down, life is broken and our society is bursting with overworked & overstimulated people. You can probably ask just about anybody you know if they experience ‘stress’ on a daily basis, and I wouldn’t be surprised if they said yes. What’s your go-to when you feel stressed? Netflix? Sleep? Eating? Seeing people? Isolating? Exercising? None of these are sinful, and some may actually be good. What if your stress response was gratitude?
Maybe I lost you there, so hear me out. I think if our daily responses or coping mechanisms are negative or irritable towards daily challenges, or chalking it up as stress may doing us more harm then good. I think succumbing towards endlessly feeling stressed shows that we have allowed stress to become our homeostasis. Homeostasis is defined as “the tendency toward a relatively stable equilibrium between interdependent elements, especially as maintained by physiological processes.” I get it, life is hard and can be exhausting, struggling to pay bills and buy groceries, trying to raise children in a broken world, and trying to enjoy life in our free time. What if you changed your homeostasis to gratitude?
What if your commuting time turned into prayer time?
What if you dread of going to work upon waking up became an opportunity to thank the Lord for giving you life?
What if correcting your child became a moment to pause & reflect that God gifted you with the privilege of loving & guiding your son or daughter?
What if paying your electricity bill became an opportunity to be thankful for that utility – seeing the undeserved blessing rather than the burden of the bill?
Thanks for following along! I hope I spurred some good thoughts or maybe some new or challenging ones. Or maybe you have some valuable or different thoughts to share with me! I would love to hear it. I hope you enjoyed hearing my sweet association with starting my morning with a ‘high five of gratitude’.
I hope you can find some moments in your day be intentionally thankful amidst the busyness of your day, recognizing how blessed you are to have a Savior that created you & loves you.