Thankful

Thanksgiving Dinner (or lunch in my case) is a meal that I look forward to all year long. In fact, when I was pregnant, I made thanksgiving meals twice during my pregnancy (not counting the actual thanksgiving day lunch) because I was craving the turkey, stuffing, casseroles, and pumpkin pie. But its so easy to get caught up in all the hullabaloo and the world has you halfway to Christmas before Thanksgiving is even over... and you let the significance of this day pass you by. I know I do.

And its more than the fact that the pilgrims landed in a strange land and the indians gave them fish to plant with corn and all that jazz, its one day out of the year that you specifically set aside and intentionally realize how blessed we are in this wonderful world in which we live. Its about remembering that even those of us who don't have much, have more than most of the world. That even having breath, a roof over our head, and something to eat is reason enough to be thankful. I take my life for granted so often, and complain about not having this or that, or I get sick of eating sandwiches for lunch every day because its cheap, and then I realize how good I have it. How blessed and full my life is. And how without the grace of God, nothing I do would be worth anything at all. And then I realize how thankful I am.

I have an incredible husband who likes to say I am more than he deserves, but I know that I am the lucky one... I have an amazing daughter who will be three in two weeks and probably smarter than me by the time she is five... I have a fantastic family, wonderful friends, an awesome church with the coolest students on the planet... and I could go on for a while listing the great things in my life.

So the next time we sit around and think of all we don't have or we can't get past what is wrong in our lives... or we want to pull our hair out because we never see the bottom of the laundry hamper, our kids won't stop leaving toys all over the house, your husband has yet to turn off football and put the kids to bed (ha!), or any number of daily struggles, lets remember Thanksgiving. Because it really shouldn't be just a day on the calendar. It should be an integral part of our being.... living a life of thankfulness. A grateful heart. Humble and appreciative.