Day 9: Ten Things | The Jar That Changes Everything

When my friend Rebecca and I first became friends, she introduced me to a habit that quietly changed the way I looked at life.

Every morning, she'd spend 10–15 minutes writing down ten things she was thankful for. They weren't extravagant blessings or lottery winnings. They were simple gifts—a warm shower, a comfortable pillow, a meal on the table, another sunrise.

Somewhere along the way, I stopped doing it.

Then yesterday, my mom—who has always been my biggest cheerleader and truly my best friend—sent me a devotional with a simple message: "This made me think of you this morning." It couldn't have arrived at a better time.

The devotional reminded me that God's provision isn't always financial. Sometimes He provides strength when you're exhausted, wisdom when you're confused, a conversation you didn't know you needed, an idea that changes everything, or peace in the middle of chaos. His resources show up in countless ways if we're willing to notice them.

As I reflected on those words, I couldn't help but think about the gratitude practice Rebecca taught me years ago. It all came full circle.

Today I'm sharing Rebecca's lesson, my mom's thoughtful message, and why I believe gratitude doesn't just change your attitude—it changes what you're able to see.

I've decided to start a gratitude jar on my desk. Every day I'll write down one blessing and place it inside. My hope is that by the end of the year, I'll have hundreds of reminders that God has been providing all along.

And I'd love for you to join me.

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:00

Good morning everyone. Welcome to another edition of 10 unedited minutes with Marlena. Uh let me turn some lights on in here. Why am I always not prepared for this? There, that's better. The lighting is for my YouTube. Anyway, welcome. It is Monday, June 29th, and this episode is sponsored by my dear friend Rebecca Conklin Kleibomer. And she has graciously agreed to sponsor two months worth of my episodes. And we are on day something of 60 days of honoring Rebecca. And I say day something because I suck at keeping track of what days, the number of days it is. So if you follow along and look at notice the titles of my podcast, you can see that some days I get them mixed up and out of order. But it's Monday, no makeup Monday. Um, I love you, Rebecca. Uh, thank you so much for supporting me, supporting this work, and just believing in me. So, what memory are we going to talk about today? Um, today I want to just share something with you guys that Rebecca has uh taught me. And she taught me this way back when we uh were working together at the courier, and it is something that I have continued to do, maybe not physically, but in my mind almost daily. And I think that this is one uh lesson that she has one of the most important things that um she could have taught me, and I want to talk about it today because I think that everybody should do this. So while we worked at the courier, um, Rebecca started this thing where she would send out daily gratitude lists, and um she would take spend, you know, 10-ish minutes each morning and just write 10 things that she's grateful for. And it doesn't have to be like, oh, I won the lottery last night, so I'm grateful for that. It's simple, simple things. She said, think of simple things. I had hot water in the shower this morning, I have a pillow to lay my head on each night. Um, I have a car to drive to work each day. So she would she created a list of her friends and would email this gratitude list to them every day. And just emailing it held her accountable. And that was because if we didn't get one, we were like, uh, what's wrong, Rebecca? Are you okay? And so she encouraged me to do the same thing. So for a while, while I was working at the courier, I would write a daily gratitude list and send it to um my friends. And it was just something to get your day started um on a positive note, and it's also something that you can do um prayerfully. So God always wants you to be grateful, and and we're gonna get into this in my conversation today, but um if you start looking at the things that God does for you on a daily basis, your life will change. Let me tell you that. So thank you, Rebecca, for starting the daily gratitude um routine. And I don't do it daily, but I I try to sit down and do it when I'm starting to feel like life is closing in on me. I'm like, okay, Marlena, let's sit down, let's write a gratitude list, and I always feel better afterwards. So thank you, Rebecca, for doing that. That was a valuable, lifelong lesson that has helped me to this day. So let's get into today's podcast. But first, um, if you're liking these Rebecca stories, I do this because she, well, first of all, because I love her to death, but second of all, because she sponsored this podcast. And if you guys, somebody else wants to sponsor this podcast, um, it's I it's $25 a month, and that basically covers my Buzz Sprout subscription. And FYI, ChatGPT, thinks I should charge more than that. But right now, I just want that subscription covered and um just to continue this podcast because this is something just like Rebecca's gratitude lists that makes me get out of bed every morning and it gives me a purpose, um, a reason to get up. And on the mornings that I don't record this podcast, my day feels off. For example, I did not record one on Saturday because as you all know, I was super busy Friday and Saturday. I had a um a side gig that I had to do, and Saturday morning rolled around and I didn't get up in time, and I went to my um cooking thing, and by the time I got home that night, I was way too tired to think about anything. So here I am, and I always take Sundays off. So, anyway, what are we gonna talk about today? I want to share something that my mom sent to me over the weekend. And speaking of gratitude, I don't know about you, but I am grateful for every single day that I have my mom with me because that woman is just an absolutely beautiful woman that is the other half of me. So everybody who knows me well knows how close I am with my mom. She's my best friend, and she's always on, she's my cheerleader. She's always rooting for me, and I love that about her. So, in saying that, she does uh devotions, daily devotionals, and every once in a while she'll send one to me. And she tells me all the time that she uh prays for me, prays for me to sell my building uptown, prays for um me to find a job, all that good stuff. So this is the one she sent me uh yesterday, and the message she sent with it was um, I thought of you when I read this this morning. So it was very powerful and impactful, and I want to share it with you. So let me put my reading glasses on. All right, it was from Sunday, June 28th, and it starts out with a Bible Bible verse from Philippines chapter 4, verse 19. This same God who takes care of me will supply all your needs from his glorious riches, which have been given to us in Christ Jesus. So the devotion starts by telling a story. Two weeks had passed since I submitted my manuscript for a 90-day devotional book, and already the time had come to start writing the next. I sat before my computer, stared at the blank screen, and whispered a prayer. I waited for a heavenly download, but nothing came. The clock ticked. I moved from my chair to my knees and asked God again for help. This time, he responded with undeniable clarity. In my mind popped off the Old Testament story of the widow who faced financial ruin. She stood on the verge of losing everything, including her two sons, to pay off her late husband's debts. The prophet Elijah told her to collect empty jars and pour oil from her flask into them. She trusted him and obeyed, and the oil multiplied to fill every jar. She sold the oil and paid the debts. Like the widow, I suffered from a lack of resources. That morning I envisioned 90 empty pages and asked Jesus to give me enough ideas to fill them. Every day following became an adventure. I'd pray for words to fill three or four pages and fresh ideas flowed. By day's end, I'd met my desired quota. Before long, the manuscript was complete. God supplied oil for the widow and ideas for my devotional book. His resources know no limit. Rest assured, he'll provide for your needs too. And that was written by Grace Box. So then on the very bottom of the page, it um offers you a challenge. They call it a faith step. And it says, begin the habit of remembering the provisions God has given you. Write each on a small slip of paper and place them in an empty jar on your table or in a cupboard. I'm gonna do that. I'm gonna do that every day. And I want you to help me and hold me accountable to it so I can. Maybe I'll put the jar on my desk back here so you guys can see it. But um this devotional is just so impactful, and it's kind of spelling out my life right now in terms of um whenever I do something, I pray about it first. And you know, they talk about lack of resources. Resources don't always mean money, and having a million dollars in the bank does not mean that you're rich, it means you're wealthy. There's that's two different things. Being rich and wealthy are two different things, and that is something that I have come to learn in this last year of not being an entrepreneur and not needing to think about the bottom line and money every single day, and the number at the end of the week every single week. You come to terms with it, you realize that resources are more than money. Resources is your relationship with God. Resources is what God provides for you every single day, not financially, spiritually, and physically too. He provides this house over my head, he provides the food I eat every day, he's providing that garden out there that I'm growing, which is beautiful, by the way. Beautiful! I'm so proud of my garden this year. Anyway, so that's where the gratitude lists come in, and that's why I this devotional that my mom sent hit so well with the memory that I spoke of with Rebecca today, because what I was trying to say at the beginning of this podcast is if you start looking at the positives in your life and start thinking in terms of gratitude, what do I have? What is good? If you're always thinking negative, like, oh my god, I gotta go to work today, oh my god, so-and-so's working today. I can't stand that person. Oh my god, the kids need to have 10 soccer games this weekend. Oh my god, I hate going grocery shopping. That was me yesterday, by the way. I absolutely hate grocery shopping. And however, if you turn that around and say, all right, God, thank you for giving me the resources to go grocery shopping. Whether that be cash, whether that be wick, whether that be public assistance, God finds a way, no matter what. God finds a way, and he's been doing that for me a lot, a lot lately. And it's very humbling. That's a good word that I can use in my journey from the last year is being humbled a lot. So try that, okay? I'm gonna challenge you to try to take, you don't have to do on on try to do a gratitude gratitude list, and it doesn't have to be ten things, start with one. Start with one thing you're grateful each day. In the morning when you wake up, think about what you were grateful for the day before or what you're grateful for in that moment. And if you start your day off on that note, I guarantee you it will be a better day already. So we're gonna end it there today. Thank you. I uh um that was a good um devotional from my mom. Thank you, mama. I love you. I know you're listening to this because of course you are, and thank you, Rebecca, for not only sponsoring this podcast, but believing in me, teaching me so many things in my life. You you are just a ray of sunshine in my life, and I love you for that. So you guys, pray for me. I pray for you every single day, and we'll see you tomorrow. Bye.