I have decided that there is little in life as beautiful as a thankful heart. It doesn't matter if it is your four year old thanking you for making play dough cookies with her, or your two year old's squeaky high pitched, "Thanks" after you wash his two stickiest fingers for the thousandth time at dinner. True thanks is a beautiful thing.
Most of the people that I know are surrounded by things to be thankful for, and I think that if we would just set our minds on looking for them rather than looking past them, that we would be amazed at what we would see.
If we looked for things to be thankful for, most of us would find family. True, it won't be a perfect one, but that's just because there is no such thing. Perhaps it is a family full of people who mean well, but get too pushy. Who don't ask the right questions about our job, or our lives, or who simply act like they don't care about either one. Maybe its a family that is too loud around the dinner table, or tells too many embarrassing stories. Or perhaps, it is a broken family, and times around the dinner table are not noisy enough because there are too few people, and not enough to talk about that won't bring up painful memories. But, nonetheless, there is family. For this we should be thankful. For the fact that we are not alone in the world. Most of us, despite the lack of perfection, have people that would call us there own and would be there for us in a pinch. No matter how strange, or estranged, nothing compares to having a family.
Most of us also have jobs to be thankful for. True, we may have to tilt our heads a little bit to the right, and squint just so, in order to see the great things we have at work, but a job is a blessing. In this current economy, maybe more of us are thankful for that than at this time five years ago, but still it is something we may complain about more than express thanks for. I know, it might be a job, and not a career. It might be a way to pay our bills, rather than follow our bliss. We might be overworked and underpaid, and vastly under-appreciated. Maybe it a part time job when we were promised full time, or a full time job with part time pay, and less benefits than we would want. But, there is work for our hands to do. Work that gives our lives some sense of purpose, and belonging, and value. Work that provides us the money we need to feed and clothe our families, and leave ever such a small amount left over for a teeny bit of fun.
A man's home is his castle, and most of us have homes for which to be thankful. Maybe not our dream homes, but homes just the same. Perhaps it is an apartment with noisy neighbors on all sides, or a home that has had a for sale sign in the yard for two years now, and just won't catch a bite on the market. Maybe its not beach front, lake front, or on a cul de sac. Maybe it even has the carpet ripped up in the back bedroom, and only three walls painted because we ran out of money to finish fixing it up. Even so, we have a safe space in which to place our belongings and lay our heads at night. When the winter wind whips cold outside, and the rain throws itself at us from all sides; we have shelter. When the stress of work, school, carpool, doctor appointments, and long lines at the grocery store are all more than we can bear; we have that safe, quiet place of refuge called home. The place where we are most comfortable, most ourselves, and most happy to be. The place where we can wear sweats, bathrobes, slippers, or nothing at all.
I think there should be a forum for "regular people" to give thanks. I know we have Thanksgiving, but who are we kidding? That has pretty much gotten to be all about the turkey and football these days. I am not a famous and talented actress, so I will never win an Academy Award and get the chance to say thanks in front of the world. But, even so, I would like to thanks to the not so "little people" in my life.
I would like to thank God for His mercy, grace, and providence in my life. I would like to thank my parents for, among other things, having three children instead of two, and my sister and brother for all the fun times and friendship. I would like to thank Jayme for loving me even when I am borderline crazy and want to have long conversations at midnight, and my kids for being the funniest people I have ever known. I would like to thank my aunts and uncles, and cousins that I love and almost never see, for being some of those people that would call me their own and be there for me in a pinch. Oh, and my precious friends. I would like to thank you most of all. For making me laugh, and for laughing with me. For filling the huge gap in my life that I have had for so many years being so far from home. You are more than just people to go to the movies with. You are my immediate source of strength, joy, and perseverance. If ever a person could say their friends are their family, I can. Thank you all. Thank you God, for my abundant life. There is little in life as beautiful as a thankful heart.
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