Today, I write with a thankful heart and am having trouble keeping my words few. Last week I spent a lot of time counting my blessings and reflecting on all I have to be thankful for. I kept a notebook and my favorite pink ink pen on my nightstand and started a list each morning when I woke up. I carried my list around with me and kept adding to it until I went to bed each night. As I thought about each thing that I saw, heard, smelled, touched and did, I realized that I have so much to be thankful for.
My heart grew more thankful with every new day. The list on just the third day was over a page and a half long before I even got out of bed. That is also the day that I totally depleted the ink from my pen and was thankful that I had another pink pen that could take over. At the beginning of the week my list started with, “I am thankful for…,” and by the end of the week, my list became a prayer of “Thank you God for….” It was through this simple little exercise, I have gained a thankful heart.
Some of the things that I am thankful for seem obvious. I am thankful for a family who loves me, for a home to live in, for a rewarding job, for a dependable vehicle and for an abundance of food in my pantry, refrigerator and deep freeze. I have a closet full of clothes to choose from each day and a washer and dryer right inside my house so that I never run out of clean things to wear. The list goes on and on and on, but as I wrote each item down, I realized that not everyone has a family who loves them, a home to live in, a job, a vehicle, food, clothing…. I am thankful. I am so very thankful.
Some of the things that I am thankful for are things I could easily take for granted. I am thankful that I can breathe despite being an asthmatic. I am thankful that I can see and that I have glasses to improve my vision that has gotten worse as I grow older. I could easily take for granted the clean water available to me any time I am thirsty or need to clean something. I don’t always give much thought to the fact that I have access to electricity so that I can turn on a light when it’s dark, have access to hot water to shower with, heat or cool my home so that I’m comfortable or charge my phone so that I can talk or video chat with my son who lives over 1000 miles away. There are so many things I could easily take for granted. Yet again, not everyone has been blessed with these things. I am thankful. I am so very, very thankful.
Some of the things I am thankful for are the experiences I have had and the learning that resulted from those moments. I am thankful that though my mind is starting to fail at times, I still have so many memories from my past. I was blessed by being born to loving parents and had a wonderful childhood. I am thankful not only for my parents but also for my husband, children, grandparents, aunts, uncles, friends, school teachers, Sunday school teachers and pastors, and for the many, many important things that those relationships have taught me. It may sound absurd, but I am especially thankful for the difficult times in my life; the personal and meaningful lessons I learned through those storms of life helped me grow. Those seasons have given me more strength, wisdom and purpose. My experiences, both good and bad, and the people who helped me along the way all brought me closer to God. And that thought leads me into my most important blessings of all, my spiritual blessings.
God has blessed me over my 49 ½ years in ways far greater than I could have ever asked or imagined, and he continues to wow and amaze me more and more all the time. Just the fact that I am part of God’s family is more than enough. My greatest blessing, what I am most thankful for each day, simply and truly is God. I am thankful that he is on my mind the moment I wake up each day. I am thankful that he loves me. I am thankful that he sent his Son, Jesus to die in my place and that Jesus lived a perfect, sinless life so that he could shed his blood to pay for my many, many sins that separated me from God. I am thankful that God chose me and that I heard his Spirit calling me. I am thankful for his forgiveness, his mercy and his grace that I do not deserve. I am thankful that God sent the Holy Spirit to live in me, to comfort me, to convict me, to bring me into his truth and to lead me in his will. I am thankful that God works in me, through me and around me. I am thankful that he is approachable. I am thankful that the veil in the temple was torn in two so that I have direct access to God through a Jesus Christ. I am thankful that the All Powerful, Almighty, All Knowing, Omnipresent, Sovereign God who created the universe desires a relationship with me. I am thankful that he who began the good work within me, will continue his work until it is finally finished on the day when Christ Jesus returns. I am thankful that through Jesus Christ, my Savior & Lord, that I have the promise of eternal life and that one day, I will be IN THE VERY PRESENCE OF GOD in the most perfect place that my brain can only begin to imagine. Yes. I am thankful. I am so, so extremely, eternally thankful. Thank you, God for giving me a thankful heart, and that in you, I am given more than enough. I am blessed!