41 Days of Gratitude

There is a lot of negativity in this law enforcement life. Our officers deal every shift with people who’ve experienced something traumatic; whether it be an accident, a crime, a death, or were arrested because they smoked too much, swallowed too much, or shot up their arms or others.

Evil is a thing. And our officers are the ones who are tasked to deal with it.

Terrible things happen. And it is our cops who are there, rescuing, protecting, comforting, and battling on our behalf.

We as family members see the toll of this negativity firsthand. No matter how much our cops try to leave it all at work, this negativity, in many forms, steps inside our homes. And if not dealt with, negativity will wreak havoc. We’ve already seen it. We feel it. We live it.

How do we fight it?

We must renew our minds. Yes, bad things happen. But good things happen too. Evil is a thing. But so is goodness. There are three things that will never go away…faith, hope, and love. But we have to be intentional as police families to grasp the good in faith, hold onto hope, and love actively and consistently.

With these thoughts from our hearts, How2LoveOurCops is embarking on an intentional time of mind renewal called “41 days of Gratitude.” Every day we’ll post something that we’re grateful for. We did this back in 2016, taking time to be grateful for different things every day for 40 days. It was transformational to concentrate on the good stuff in our lives, taking real inventory, and just keeping the positivity going as we head towards Thanksgiving, then into the most wonderful time of year!

This time we’re adding a day. Why? Well, that’s how many days Chief and I have left with the California Highway Patrol. After 31 years, we’ve decided it’s time to move on. More about that in future posts. For now, I’m excited about concentrating on things I’m thankful for, and I hope to spur you on in your thoughts as well.

More tomorrow…