1. Getting to stay in bed to read! I HEART that with all my HEART! It is so nice to have a baby that sleeps in!
2. A water heater that is too small for our family size but astonishingly almost never really seems to run out of hot water. I LOVE my hot shower.
3. Mysterious phone calls that include pistachio bread and non-story police chases.
4. Three early morning phone calls that did NOT include asking me to say the prayer at church.
5. Leftovers for breakfast.
6. Helping my son give his talk at church. I just love doing that. I feel so motherly and loved by them.
7. Cheap labor! I got Justine to put both little kids to bed with stories and everything for three bucks.
8. The Sunday night Pepsi Corey surprises me with once a month.
9. Nephews who are too old to play with annoying younger cousins but do so anyway, and sleep over in the top bunk! Now that is a nice cousin!
10. Being able to find a seat for Sacrament.
Remember when Oprah had everyone write 5 things they were thankful for every day in a gratitude journal? Although I didn't keep up with it (big news flash there) it really does help improve your quality of life when you are thankful for the little things.
I absolutely love the book by Corrie Ten Boom called the Hiding Place. It is a life altering book. Truly!
I have to share this story. Corrie and her sister Betsy were living during the time of the Holocaust. They were sent to a concentration camp for hiding Jews in their home! Can you imagine that time in history? They knew the consequences but they helped anyway. I hope I would be that kind of a person. When they were sent to the concentration camp they were able to sneak in their Bible. Their Bible was a great source of joy and comfort to them. They had to sleep in bunks where everyone was just squashed in together. They had terrible fleas. For some reason the guards never checked on them and they were able to hold Bible study and teach the other ladies about Jesus Christ and the Bible. The guards routinely checked on the other bunks. On a discouraging day Corrie's sister said that the Bible teaches to give thanks in ALL things so they needed to pray and give thanks. They listed numerous things they were thankful for including their Bible and having each other. When Betsy suggested that they needed to give thanks for the fleas Corrie protested that she would not give thanks for fleas! Betsy reminded her that God said to give thanks in ALL things. They gave thanks for the fleas.
Later while doing their assigned work in the concentration camp Corrie over heard the guards fighting about checking on the different bunks. They refused to check on Corrie's bunk. They refused to do so because that bunk has fleas!
Without fleas those ladies would never been able to spread the good news of the Bible and Jesus Christ with the other ladies. Think how much hope they were able to spread in that desperate time. I so love that story and try to remember it so I can give thanks for all thinks as well, understanding that we know not everything.
5 comments:
your posts always make me happy. it's true - we do need to give thanks in all things. (I've also loved that book for a long time - i should re-read it!)
I also haven't read that book for a very long time. So sweet what you're thankful for. I need to do better at being thankful for the 'fleas'
Great thankful blog! I'm considering it. Haven't read the book.
Funny that you would post this, this week. Kenzie gave a devotional this week in seminary....She had everyone write down 10 things they LOVE. Then she had them exchange the work love with "thankful for". She told them the things you love, you may not always remember to thank our Heavenly Father for. We need to be thankful for all the things in our life. Whether good or bad, it's our life....Make the most of it.
There was a time when my kids were all very small at the same time, and sick at the same time. One particul arly discouraging time, they were hospitalized and sick for the months between October and March. During that time we had no break for someone being sick in our house. I was so utterly tired from all the things included in just raising them (they never slept through the night til about 4, any of them.) that when sickness came, it was total exhaustion and depression and everything else. Anyway, I always had the feeling in my heart that they were getting these sicknesses to prepare them for a time when they would need strong immune systems during a time of even more serious sickness. (now) So I am thankful for those fevers, and you for your reminder!
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