One of my Facebook friends had this as her status today. So true in so many ways.

Gratitude unlocks the fullness of life. It turns what we have into enough, and more. It turns denial into acceptance, chaos to order, confusion to clarity. It can turn a meal into a feast, a house into a home, a stranger into a friend. Gratitude makes sense of our past, brings peace for today, and creates a vision for tomorrow.
~ Melody Beattie

Dennis Prager had a show a while back where he was talking about how difficult it is to raise a grateful child today. Children have so much, and want for so little, they appreciate nothing. I have definitely seen it first hand, though I think it is still possible for children to be raised with an attitude of appreciation and respect. And gratitude.

Media & society have convinced us that we need so much, and that we deserve to have it, that parents themselves have ceased to appreciate what they have. Those parents long ago stopped reminding their children about the ‘magic words’ “please” and “thank you”.

If you can learn at an early age to see the generosity of socks under the Christmas tree, then you will also learn to recognize and cherish the love behind that bunny suit from Aunt Clara. If you can’t even manage an acknowledgment when you get something you’ve asked for, you will never experience the level of happiness & contentment that a grateful person does.

It really is the thought that counts – the thought behind the giving, and the thought behind the receiving.