Ever since that lovely thing called Daylight Savings Time, my sweet boy has been waking up crying for his Mama at 5:00 AM. Instead of grumbling as I stumble out of bed to get him, I am choosing to be so thankful. Thankful that my baby is healthy and strong, that his lungs and vocal cords are clearly intact and that he wants me. What more could I ask for (besides just a few more hours of sleep?) I just love him so much and I don't ever want to take my son for granted.
A beating heart...
This may seem like a DUH, but when is the last time you stopped and said thanks for a working heart? My pastor said something the other day that made me really think. He was talking about how many times our heart beats in a minute, then in a day, in a year, etc. On average if your heart beats 80 beats per minute, that's 4,800 beats in an hour meaning your heart beats about 42, 048,000 times in a year. If you stop to think about your body and how everything works together it's just crazy. So today I'm stopping to be thankful for a heart that is currently beating strong.
A glass of water...
I actually really enjoy water, but only if it's really, really cold. As I poured myself a glass of filtered water into my cute Crate & Barrel glass from my working refrigerator I stopped to think about how precious water is. It is essential to my everyday life. I think back to a trip I took with my husband to Nigeria where we heard stories of people walking miles for clean water. Can you even imagine doing that? It reminded me to be thankful for clean, running water that is right at my fingertips.
Piles of dirty laundry...
I don't mind doing laundry, but lately it has been a huge chore because we are having our basement re-done meaning our washer/dryer are currently not hooked up. We have had to haul our laundry over to my mother in law's house for weeks. But instead of being upset about this I should be thankful for all the piles of laundry. Dirty laundry means that we are living life. My baby has mud on his pants from playing outside, my husband has pen marks on his nice shirts from a long day of teaching and I have the remnants of my baby's dinner on every.single.outfit. But I should be glad about this and thankful that I have enough clothes that I can go weeks without washing them.
A car that {mostly} works...
Drew and I have been married for 6 years and have gone through a number of cars already. We went through a time when we felt like something was always going wrong with one of our cars. It was extremely frustrating. We rely so much on our vehicles. But you know what? If my car dies or a part needs to be replaced, it's not the end of the world and life will go on. I have family here who would gladly give me a ride or let me borrow their car for a day. And while it is frustrating, I'm thankful we can afford not just one car, but two.
These are only a few of the many things that I forget to be thankful for on a daily basis, but today I'm choosing to stop and to thank God for these not so obvious "gifts."
What kinds of things do you forget to say THANKS for?
6 comments:
Such a good reminder! I think ever since I hurt my hip back in the spring, I've been more thankful for my body/health. It's easy to take walking around for granted!! I'm thankful for water too :)
I love this post. It can be so hard to remember to be thankful for the simple and small things. Easy to take them for granted. So I love this post. :)
Love this so much! And I can definitely relate to the car one ;) ...I'll be remembering these when I have a crying baby! :)
-Court
www.thegoldentabby.com
Yes! Our trip to Nicaragua has made me really thankful for clean water. Some people don't have that! I too like my water cold :)
Totally am with you on this post. It is so easy to complain when we really should be constantly talking about how good we have it. Hope you guys had a great Thanksgiving!!
I seriously love this post. It's so good to be thankful for the things that sometimes don't seem like blessings. It just takes a shift in our point of view. <3
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