A Time to be Thankful

As I get older, I'm starting to understand what life is about and how more often than not... we truly don't appreciate what we have or what God has given us.  It's very easy for us to look at the negative instead of the positive, it's easy to take advantage of the greatness we have and focus on what we don't have and wish we did, its easy to complain instead of praise, and it's really easy to ask why this happened to me instead of someone else.  The last few weeks I have come across many people that are facing some difficult times in their lives and it really has made me stop and think to myself, "Wow... I really don't know how lucky I am sometimes."  I think it's only human that we get caught up in our own world and forget what others might be feeling or experiencing, but especially this time of year and from what I have learned over the past few weeks, we all need to take a look at our lives and for once express our gratitude for what we do have.  It's amazing how good THAT can make you feel when you actually think about it!  

Darkness, sadness, loss, grief, all of these things are scary & trying and sometimes we think that we will never overcome it, but I read something the other day that really stuck with me: “The depth of darkness to which you can descend and still live is an exact measure of the height to which you can aspire to reach.”   Over the next few days I'm going to post what my family is thankful for and I hope whoever is reading this can find something in their life to be happy about or grateful for... no matter how big or small it is.



I AM THANKFUL FOR...

• my life
• a healthy family
• a safe place to call home
• laughter
• great friends
• a rewarding job (even though sometimes its very tiring)
• being a mother, wife, daughter, granddaughter, & sister
• flip flops :)
• sweet tea
• music
• chapstick
• comfy sweatshirts
• mom's cooking
• good books
• childhood memories
• love
• forgiveness
• trying times

I know that last one may seem kind of strange, but if we didn't have difficult times to experience then we wouldn't have opportunities to better things.  I'm thankful for this because without those times some doors would not close and others would not be opened.