Thankful...

I've been doing 30 Days of Thanksgiving on Facebook where each morning for 30 days in November, I post something I'm thankful for. Today I thought I'd change it up a bit by sending my Facebook friends here to read a short post about being thankful. I once saw a quote that said,

"If you woke up tomorrow with only the things you thanked God for today, what would you have?"

Wow. Sobering. That quote certainly made me take a look at what I was thanking God for throughout my days. To be honest, it also overwhelmed me. I started thinking of everything I would want to wake up to the next morning and how I would need to thank God for ALL of those things and how could I possibly even fit everything in?? But that's not really what it's about. God knows our hearts and He knows I am thankful for everything He has given me. That also doesn't mean I don't need to be constantly thanking Him. And the thing is, I've realized, even in the midst of not so ideal situations there is ALWAYS something to be thankful for. So in light of that, I give you these things I AM thankful for:

• I am thankful for dirty diapers & temper tantrums because that means I have been blessed with a healthy toddler.

• I am thankful for slammed doors & rolled eyes because that means I get to be the mother to 2 expressive girls.

• I am thankful for back aches, swollen feet & weight gain because that means I get to "assist" God in creating another miracle to join our family.

• I am thankful for not-so-fun evenings at our dinner table with children who "don't WAAAANNNA eat" the food I've prepared because that means we have food on our table.

• I am thankful for the inconvenience of having a huge roach crawling across our floor because that means we have a home & walls to protect us from most of those nasty things.

• I am thankful for car troubles because that means our family is blessed with not one, but two vehicles to drive.

• I am thankful for late evenings doing dinner, bath & bed with the kids alone because that means my husband has a job.

• I am thankful for the piles & piles of laundry we have constantly building up in our house because that means we have more than enough clothes.

Don't misunderstand me. I do not always have a thankful attitude for these things. I am working on remembering that the small inconveniences I have on a regular basis all stem from other things that I have been GIVEN. And

"to whom much is given, much is expected." {Luke 12:48}

So I am trying to keep that in mind during this Season of Thanksgiving.