#thankful

This year I am feeling especially thankful. It’s thanksgiving, I am home in The States and I can’t help but be overwhelmed by the amount of thanks I have to give. Some have said “I bet you appreciate the little things so much more now” and I have to argue that they are not little things. 

I returned home in August and was welcomed by the viral “ice bucket challenge” which to me, was my shower for the past year. For this reason, I am so thankful for my shower each and every day. I am thankful for running water. For clean water. For hot water. For water pressure. For water. It’s glorious! 

Today there will certainly be a few dishes after our family’s thanksgiving meal. I am thankful for hot water, soap, and a dishwasher to clean these dishes with. I am thankful for clean towels to dry them with. I am thankful for a kitchen to do all of this in. A sink. A faucet. And again, clean running water. 

I woke up today without an ounce of pain in my body. Something once foreign to me was a pain free day. I am so thankful for a God of miracles. A God that heals. The ability to heal and recover. I am thankful for my health, which is so very precious to me. I am beyond thankful for a body that is fully functioning and furthermore works for me in fighting off disease and illness and healing itself. I am thankful that even though I have my fair share of accidents, my body heals, restores and is so very powerful. I am thankful that I returned home with all 10 fingers even though at one point this year I was certain I had lost one. I am thankful for not only being healthy but feeling healthy everyday. 

Today’s meal will be grand from any perspective, but even though hours have gone into the preparation for it, the task has been made simple thanks to the multitude of food options readily available. I am thankful for these options. I am thankful for food distribution. I am thankful for grocery stores that stay stocked and don’t have to wait for a customer to buy something in order to afford replacing the expired cookies on the shelf. I am thankful for sanitary food choices that I can trust. I am thankful for the entire aisle of cheeses and the other entire section of solely vegetarian options!  I am thankful for a produce section that is always more abundant than any farm I have seen. I am so thankful that I can select groceries and not have to walk over five miles home with them. I am thankful for fresh food. For healthy food. For food. 

This morning I woke up in my bed. A bed!  It has a queen size mattress, sheets, a down comforter, and pillows!  It is glorious!  I am thankful for this!  I am thankful that I do not have to sleep on the cement or dirt floor. I am thankful that my floor is not cement or dirt. I am thankful that there is heat in the winter and cold air in the summer. I am thankful for windows on my bedroom… With glass in them!  I am thankful that the walls meet the ceiling and dangerous predators including deadly scorpions and snakes cannot get in. And because I live in Michigan, I am thankful for the absence of such deadly predators in general!  I am thankful that I was able to get over my irrational fear of spiders this year… Because let’s face it, unless it is a deadly one, the fear is irrational. I am thankful for mornings where roosters don’t crow their screeching crow at 3am, and nights where wild dogs don’t howl and bark until 2am. I am thankful for the dark stillness that fills my room as I slumber.