Let's Think About Being Grateful Instead

I wish that I could be a like the birds who are outside playing in the rain. They look like they’re having such a good time splashing in puddles and talking with one another, though I imagine they may be a little cold. But alas, I’m a sick human inside her warm house, dry, groggy, splashing nowhere but the shower when I can do nothing else to breathe.

This week, I count not having a job as a blessing. I’m able to stay home and be sick without worrying about the work that I’m missing. I’m able to put all of my time and energy into fighting bad germs and trusting the good guys to triumph. It’s weeks like this when I’m even more amazed than normal by the human body. God’s design for our bodies is so detailed and intricate that it literally makes my head hurt—kind of like it hurts when I think about infinity.

So let’s not think about infinity or the human body. I don’t need another part of my human body to hurt. Let’s think about being grateful instead.

For what one article of clothing are you extremely grateful? I’ve thought about this question a lot, debated many different articles of clothing, imagined life without various articles of clothing, and come to my conclusion: I’m extremely grateful for comfortable, sturdy, supportive shoes (even if they aren’t necessarily pretty.) When my feet are stifled—when they’re crammed into uncomfortable, impractical shoes, then they don’t feel free. And when my feet don’t feel free, the rest of me doesn’t either. “How beautiful are the feet of those who share the good news.”

What is one job/profession you are extremely thankful exists but that you are equally thankful you are not called to do? [Today, if you cross their paths, say thanks to persons who have been called to this job/profession.] My gut answer to this question is almost always a job/profession in the medical field—surgeon, dental hygienist, nurse, etc. But I’ve also recently been very grateful for sanitation workers. While I’m not thrilled with the amount of trash that I and other Americans produce, and while I know that high trash production and disposal leads to a form of human exploitation, I’m very thankful for workers who do the dirty work of taking trash away.

What is one personal hygiene or grooming item for which you are especially thankful? I’ve enjoyed reading everyone’s answers to this question. As with all of the questions, really, it’s neat to see what different people think and value…and who is bold enough to say the things that other people just won’t say. That being said, I’m going to be somewhat bold here, embarrass myself a little, and say that I’m especially thankful for feminine hygiene products. Again, I’ve thought a lot about the answer to this question, and, well, I’m really glad that I don’t have to go sleep in a tent, sit on bales of hay, not go to work or school, or do any of the other things that women of the past and women of other countries today must do each month.

We are so blessed with luxuries in America…clothing to choose from, job opportunities that are vast, personal hygiene and grooming items that are so common that we often don’t think twice about them. But today, as I use soft tissues and suck on cough drops, sit in lounge clothes inside a warm house, have the choice not to be outside with the birds, splashing in the cold water, though I still think it would be fun, I thank God for all of the luxuries that surround me…not the least of which is the cozy bed that I’m about to burrow into for a nice sick-on-a-rainy-day nap.

Loving God. Accept our thanks today for all of the good things in our lives. Soft pants, jeans, sweatshirts, hoodies, jackets, underwear, soft fleece socks, baseball pants, tweezers, hairbrushes, hairspray, razors, mascara, dental floss, deodorant, toothbrushes, doctors, trash collectors, pastors, teachers, morticians, school bus drivers, and more. Help us to see things and people as gifts to be cherished and help us to live with a grateful spirit for all that we’ve been given. Amen.