In Everything Give Thanks

It's easy to look at the things that are not the way we want them and to get discouraged.  Perhaps your trigger is politics or violence in entertainment or people who text while driving and float from lane to lane.

As I sit here, there are many things I am tempted to "humorously" address: fatigue, overwork, divorce, children who insist upon touching things they know they ought not to touch.  And yet, I feel the need to give thanks.

I am thankful to God for His grace and mercy and love that flow so abundantly, even when I deserve them the least.

I am thankful for my two little sets of grasping fingers, for the way they pat my cheek and hug my neck and make the motions to our new VBS songs.

I am thankful for the "moms" in my life.  My mother has put up with so much from me . . . and still does . . . and gives to me so plentifully so much of the time.  My mother-in-law, who calls my kids each week and hosts pajama party sleepovers and brought Chinese food for lunch today and just visited.  For the many spiritual "moms" in my life, some of whom are my own age and shared living space with me throughout my Wheaton years.  My life is so rich because of you all.

I am thankful for two hairy, shedding dogs who crowd on the couch with me . . . and who eat my kids' crumbs sometimes before they hit the floor.  (I really cannot imagine raising two children without canine vacuums . . . I don't even want to!)

I am thankful for all the work I have to do, as tiring as it is, because it will enable me to keep my kids in their home when the rest of their lives are a bit topsy-turvy.

I am even thankful for my ex who is giving me one final Mother's Day gift by cleaning up and removing the enormous turtle tank from our living room.  (Productive office space, here I come!)

I am thankful for my church family and my blood family and the beautiful and unique ways they minister to me.

I am also thankful for technology.  It can be a nightmare (like this afternoon when I purposely loaded work into Dropbox so I could work on the tablet while my kids watched Secretariat only to find out that Publisher has no free apps so I downloaded the trial version only to find I also needed to upgrade my operating system whereupon I cursed Microsoft for choosing to provide apps for all their programs except the one I needed at the moment and vowed to write a scathing blog about it) . . .  

Oops.  Thankfulness.  Right.

I could actually go on with this for a while longer, but I am super thankful that my bed is already made and waiting for me, and I can't keep it waiting any longer.  (Unlike last night--this morning, rather--at 2am when I finally went into my room only to remember I'd washed the sheets and forgotten to make the bed . . . at least I'd remembered to dry them!)

I'd love to hear what you are thankful for . . .

(Okay, so I'm thankful for Petra, too!)