Being Thankful

I love this time of year, but if you are anything like me, I sometimes feel like I am getting so excited planning and getting ready for Advent and Christmas that I forget to slow down and appreciate Thanksgiving!!  Yet, I NEED Thanksgiving, and my family needs Thanksgiving.  Thanksgiving is the time to really count our blessings and have appreciation and gratitude for what God has granted us and for those that we love. 

"Count Your Blessings" - our hallway display reminder!

I feel like it is so easy to fall far on either spectrum of gratitude.  There are those days that I feel discouraged: "why does my husband's work schedule take so much of him away from our family", "why did I only get 4 hours of sleep last night", "why is there so much hurt and pain occurring in the community around me"?  Then there are other days that I feel so humbled and so blessed looking at so many others in need.  I know that I am so lucky to be where I am, with the home and privileges that we do, with a healthy family and lots of love. 

I think what I have realized is that I want to trust God and be thankful for today, in this moment.  I know that my struggles and hardships (no matter how big or small they are) are my crosses to bear, my opportunities to grow in strength and virtue.  Yes, my husband has a demanding work schedule, but he is providing not only for our family but also a need to the poor and weary in our community as an Emergency room physician, and he has a true gift within his vocation.  Thank you God, for my husband, and for granting him a heart to not only love our family, but to also love and care for others.  Yes, some nights I get little sleep, but thank you God for granting us the blessings of our children.  Thank you for allowing me to be able to stay at home with our children to provide love, comfort and guidance.  Yes, there is a lot of pain and hurt in my community, so God please put in my heart the act of servitude.  That I might be able to reach out, in my own way, to help and love those in need. 



The Banner across our fireplace - "Be Thankful"

God, thank you for sending your Son, to love us so much that he died so that we might live in eternity with you.  Thank you for my husband, and for my family.  They give me so much joy and love and they allow me to live out the vocation that I know that you are calling me to as a wife and mother. Thank you for my parents, my sister and my extended family.  Thank you for allowing us to be near each other and to play such an important part in each others lives.  Thank you for my in-laws and brother in law.  Thank you for bringing them into my life and for allowing me to join their family, and most of all for helping me to grow closer to them each year.  Thank you for my friends and community.  Thank you for the support, kindness and guidance that they provide.  Thank you for our country and for the freedoms and privileges that we have.  This Thanksgiving, I am truly thankful for the blessings in my life and I pray that God blesses you and your family as well!