The Most Precious Gift You Already Have

Mar 10, 2017 | Faith, Life

I end the day with thanks, realizing how often I forget to praise God for what is.
 
In the gap between praying about worry and crisis, we fail to simply give thanks.
 
For the simple things.
 
Like each phone call you get from one of your kids. The uneventful day at school. The husband who’s beside you each night for almost twenty-nine years.
 
The A’s on report cards. The friends who stick closer than a brother. The parents who are here one more day. The siblings who are just a phone call away. The health you have to breathe, climb, chase after whatever you want to without complications. The clothes that are a little tight and the house that is messy.
 
The yard that needs mowed. The safety inside your home. The cars that start each day. The job you have and bills that are paid.
 
How many of us fail to see what is here, right now, what is good and mundane. What is expected. Yet, we don’t give thanks because it’s how it’s supposed to be.
 
We spend our time chasing after what should be or what was.
 
My sleep was interrupted tonight by a phone call and text. One with good news which could have been bad, where you intercede and, perhaps, bargain with God for the outcome. It seems there’s been a lot of that lately. Interceding for situations out of your control. Having faith in what you hope for and certain of what you do not see.
 
So when you get a phone call and it’s about the mundane, I’m prompted to give thanks for the ordinary. My family today. My faith today.
 
I’m learning to answer “Right now everyone’s good” when people ask how the family is. This answer took someone off guard this week. It’s not pessimistic, it’s realistic.
 
I’m thankful for good places right now. We all should be. We don’t know what tomorrow brings. Life has taught me there are no guarantees.
 
Except for today. Now. This night of sleep. Tomorrow’s day of hopefully mundane. And for it I’m trying to be thankful.
 
If you’re living in mundane, give thanks. Let’s embrace the richness of now. The children under your roof. The good places where those kids are who are out of your nest. The heart that beats. Cows that moo. The laundry that doesn’t end. The job that is there. The house that shelters, the wind that blows, the rain that comes and the sun that shines.
 
The God who showers you with these blessings each day, and sustains you when the phone call isn’t so good, the report is not what you hoped or the close call you just had.
 
These are the things I’m giving thanks for tonight as I grieve and give thanks all in one breath.
 
That’s the tension of life. Grieving and giving thanks, yet it’s lost in busyness, complaining, bitterness, and envy.
 
I’m simply thankful for now.
Congratulations to Andrea Simpson as the winner for the Control Girl Giveaway! I have new give aways coming up from other authors. Stay tuned and enter to win!
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2 Comments

  1. Jessie Heninger

    I’m finding that life is full of seasons of hardship and seasons of good. It’s the remembering in the hard times that’s difficult. But afterwards I find I’m grateful for quiet simplicity.

    • Brenda L. Yoder

      Thank you for sharing this Jessie! You are so right that these seasons are both part of our lives. And when you’re in the thick of the hard times, it seems hard to see what is before us in the good. Thank you for sharing!

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