Give the very thing you need, and you will get more. Not only will you have enough for yourself, but the more you give, the more you'll be given. The bigger and more loving the sowing, the bigger and more lush the reaping. Every farmer knows that if you want a small crop, you sow just a little seed. If you want a big crop, you sow a lot of seed. The better you care for your crop, the more abundant the harvest.

We can sometimes be deceived into thinking that, just because we don't see immediate results, that the law of sowing and reaping doesn't work. God promised me that if I give with a heart full of love and joy, whatever I give would be returned to me. But there may be a significant space of time between the sowing and the reaping. And this is exactly where most people trip themselves up big time … I know I did.

In nature, if you plant a tomato seed it takes anywhere from 55 to 100 days to be able to pick a lovely ripe tomato. And that is dependent on what variety tomato and which climate you live in.

Contrast a tomato's  fairly short growing season with the growing season of the Chinese bamboo.

When bamboo is first planted, watered, and nurtured for an entire growing season it doesn’t visibly grow a single inch. After the second growing season, a season in which the farmer still takes extra care to water, fertilize and care for the bamboo tree, the tree still hasn’t sprouted. The same happens during the third and fourth years. The farmer tends and waters, tends and waters, with no visible results. Finally year 5 comes. And during that fifth year, the Chinese bamboo tree seed "magically" sprouts and the tree grows a foot a day and as much as 90 feet in just one growing season!

Everyone has heard the over night "outhouse to penthouse" success stories … they just left out the part about the amount of time it took for success to grow invisibly and how long it actually took to tangibly "sprout" 😉

It is Universal Law – sooner or later – you always reap exactly what you sow!  People, who work patiently towards realizing their dreams and goals, building strong character and self-confidence through learning to effectively manage and overcome adversity and challenge, being grateful for everything that is handed to them during the process, grow not only successful businesses, but also develop the strong internal foundation needed to handle their own success and empower others to become successful in their own right.

Gratitude Is The Fuel Behind Creating Life Changing Momentum

So many people are being vampired by life. Everything feels like a struggle … a struggle to pay the bills, to deal with a boss who has no business being a boss, to find time to be with their kids, to find some sort of real meaning to their lives. Life has become something to endure, rather than enjoy. I think it is very ironic that for alot of people "Thanksgiving" is nothing more than a day off of work … wooHOO … I don't have to get up early this morning and deal with all of that traffic. I know that there are LOTS of people out there that would be GRATEFUL to have that problem right now.

Have you ever had anyone tell you "But I don't have anything to be grateful for."  "My life stinks, and if you were in my position, you wouldn't be so happy either."  I hear that alot from people who are looking for a way out of the financial mess they find themselves in right now.

I always ask them if they are SURE they have nothing to be grateful for.

Not surprisingly, the next thing I hear is "What do you mean?"

Then I start talking …

• Did you have a place to sleep last night? Many people didn't …

• Did you have something to eat today? Lots of people in this country didn't
  

• Are you able to see? Many people can't …

• Are you able to use your hands and fingers? Many people can't …

• Are you able to walk? Many people can't … And … I almost was one of them. So, now I choose to be happy and thankful for EVERYTHING that I do have because I am thankful for the lesson I learned and appreciate what I almost lost.

Once I say that, I can literally feel the other person's energy shift through the telephone … their words change and, if only for a minute or two, they see that something else is possible for them.

If each of us takes a bit of time, we can always find lots of small things to be grateful for – a smile from someone we don't know, a heartfelt "Thank You" from someone that we have helped, the joy we get from a hobby or activity we love, having at least one good friend that has been with us through thick and thin, the J-O-B that pays the bills,  the freedoms that we have because we live in the USA and that many of us take for granted every day.

While it doesn't always immediately change the situation, when you start to change how you perceive things, it won't be long before the things you perceive change. And, you come to understand that you really do have the power to change whatever you want to change in your life. Being grateful is the rocket fuel powering this process. It constantly surprises me that the more thankful I am for what I have, the more I have to be thankful for! Every day "tangible proof" shows up … in my inbox, my mailbox, in my relationships, in my bank account.

Gratitude Is An EVERY DAY Activity

Being grateful every day is not for wishy-washy wimpy people! Cultivating an attitude of perpetual gratitude is hard work, just like sowing a big crop of bamboo. You have to be determined, persistent and strong to be grateful, especially when things seem to be going against you … just like the bamboo farmer. It is really hard to say, "I know it's not over yet. But, I have faith and confidence that better times are ahead. I'm going to be grateful for what I have and not worry abut what I don't have. And that is the TRUTH that I am going to hang onto … no matter what."

Gratitude changes desperation into HOPE. It changes a negative into a positive. When you start sowing positive seeds, how can you possibly harvest a negative crop? Plant a tomato seed … you get tomatoes. Plant bamboo … you get bamboo. Plant the positive feelings … you get positive results returned to you.

Gratitude has to be tended to with excellence on a daily basis for it to produce those positive fruits. If you don't weed and water your roses, very soon the rose bush dries up and dies. If you over water the rosebush one day and then you wait for a week to over water it again, the roots rot because there is no integrity in that. The same thing happens with gratitude. You have got to be grateful and give thanks EVERY DAY so that the roots of hope are watered consistently and can ultimately yield a beautiful bouquet of long anticipated positive results. 

As the little boy in the cartoon says "We have so much to be thankful for. One day a year hardly seems adequate!"

Here's what I am grateful for at the very minute that I am typing this –

God and Jesus Christ without whom I am nothing.

My Mother's health is improving.

My health is improving.

The many friends who love me and have been there through the good times and the challenging times. You know who you are and I LOVE YOU !!

The people that I am able to help and serve on a daily basis.

And … if you are reading this blog post …

I am especially GRATEFUL for YOU

… your time, your attention and your input …

because without you, this blog means nothing!!

What Did You Think?

About The Author –

  Rose Mis is the author of “Dead Blogs Don’t Lie ~ 7 Secrets To A Wildly Popular High Traffic Blog”. She is the creator and Executive Chef of the internet's only Award Winning Attraction Marketing Training Kitchen. Rose has been recognized as one of the top MLM / Network Marketing bloggers in the blogoshpere and is a featured blogger at thatMLMbeat.com. You are invited to stop by the Kitchen anytime you have any questions about blogging, marketing or mindset. Rose is here to serve YOU.