Being Thankful

When I first became a Christian, I was mentored by a wonderful woman.  One of the many valuable things she taught me about was prayer.  Praying is essential to true Christians.  It is our lifeblood.  It builds our relationship to our creator.  My mentor mentioned one day that even though we may feel we have nothing to pray, we can always thank God.  She told me that even if we thanked him for just having one more day, that was something we could lift up to him.  She is a very wise woman.

I still follow many of the things she taught me.  Especially this one.  When the week is dragging on and I'm feeling down.  Or when I've been a grumpy and snappy, I tend to take a minute to stop and thank God.  It pulls me back to reality.  I find that I have so many things that outweigh my stress and the situation.  And God shows me many things during this time.

This week has had many ups and downs.  It's been all over the place.  We are still adjusting to a new schedule.  I'm trying to figure out how to get the gardening done with 3 little kids at home and a ton of house work to keep up with.  On top of that, God has been convicting me about some other aspects of life that I will share later.  That said, I had not thanked my creator much this week. 

Friday was another of those busy days.  I had to exchange some things at Sam's and pick up some other stuff. Then I had to get Sarah, go to Lowe's and take the dogs to the vet. I had a good 20 minutes in the car with the kids before we arrived at our first stop.  During that time, I started thanking God.  I thanked him for my husband, the gorgeous day, my business, Daniel's pastorate, and so on.  We drove past some horses and Ashton said resolutely, "I buy a horse."  And then we passed over Lake Hartwell and Ashton started getting excited about the water.  It never fails.  The minute he sees the water he is amazed.  And that's when it dawned on me... again.  God wants me to be excited about his creation just like my little man.  He doesn't want me to see it through jaded, tired or time-strapped glasses.  He wants me to stop and take in the grandeur of what He made for me.

The day before, Ashton and I were coming out to work on my garden site.  We walked down the back porch steps just as a cardinal landed in a tree and started singing.  I kept on walking to collect my gloves and tools.  But Ashton, he stopped and said, "Mommy, a bird.  It's a birdie!"  And me, being the slow one that I am, kept calling for him to follow me.  But now that I look back, he was there standing in awe of that little bird and I was being all Martha like and pulling him to work on a chore.  He told me the other day, "God made the water.  God made the bird."  He's seeing this while I'm just walking by, checking the next thing off my list. 

I'm not saying that there is not a time and a place for work, but sometimes we need to stop and see the greatness that God has put into our everyday lives.  Sometimes I need to slow down and see that greatness through the eyes of my children. 

I hope as you read this, you too will stop and take some pleasure out of all that God has given us.  Look at life through the eyes of child and see how differently things appear.  And it may change your perspective as well.