Over a year ago, Matt Swaim began something that transformed my use of social media. He called it a #gratefultweet. The idea is that you begin your day on social media (that hashtag is specifically for Twitter) with a moment of gratitude.
Any day, you can tune into Twitter and see the stream of grateful tweets grow.
Every morning, I post to Twitter (with the hashtag #gratefultweet), Facebook, and Google+ (using #grateful) with a moment of gratitude. Sometimes, they’re all the same thing, and other mornings, I challenge myself to come up with three different posts.
Swaim calls it “a personal spiritual exercise,” using Twitter as his accountability partner. I’ve had a number of people comment that they enjoy my grateful posts, and it always makes me smile.
For coffee, yes. For sunshine, of course. But for the boy who’s across my lap and is seriously impeding my ability to get work done? For the girl who wants to touch me every single moment all day long? For the frustration of failed dinner preparations, a sprained ankle, and unending piles of laundry?
This daily exercise is spiritual, and it’s made me grow in ways I never envisioned. Funny how spending a moment every morning can transform you over the long haul.
Give it a try. See how beginning with gratitude—whether on social media or just in a journal—affects your relationship with God.
Copyright © 2013, Sarah Reinhard
Sarah Reinhard
Sarah Reinhard continues to be shocked and delighted that her life as a grown-up involve horses, writing, and sparkly dress shoes. In her work in the New Evangelization as a Catholic wife, mom, writer, parish employee, and catechist, she’s learned a lot of lessons, had a lot of laughs, and consumed mass amounts of coffee. She’s online at SnoringScholar.com and CatholicMom.com, and is the author of a number of books.
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[…] a day on Facebook, but it probably looks like more if you follow my timeline. I get on early and begin my day with gratitude. I also end up liking articles and things I read, sharing links (using HootSuite’s […]