A thankful lifestyle

The sun was pale with cold, and a frog with a sore throat attempted to croak at the same time every morning while I enjoyed some set-aside time with a deserving God.  I felt a little sorry for little froggy; it sounded like he was alone out there trying to survive the dropping temperatures.  His croaks came out in a low, forced tone.  He needed throat coat tea and a good dose of vitamin C.  I tucked my blanket closer around me, feeling thankful that it's him out there and not me. 

The day after I wrote in 2 letters that our first freeze was highly anticipated but probably not very near in the future, I woke up to subtle white frost gripping each blade of grass.  A couple more nights of crisp ground silenced the frog's morning discourse.  Hopefully he's happily hibernating somewhere out there.  😖

Every time I get in the car, the heater is pinned to the warmest setting waiting for the vents to stop blowing cold air.   I don't even check the weather anymore because I know it's just going to be cold, and that's all that really counts.  This week I had my first eggnog latte of the season, and I'm quite convinced that they are made by fairies.  The nights are starry and bright with a content moon making sparkles on the frost.  It's a good life, even when I forget.

With Thanksgiving so near at hand, I am thinking about one of my favorite family traditions.  When we sit down to a table too small to hold all the food, we first go around a time or two stating something from the past year for which we are each especially thankful.  Usually that ends up being a big thing--a raise, a new baby, a recent marriage, good grades, a new friend.  Those are the easy things to think of because they have largely dominated or defined the past year.  I love this because it gives us each a chance to hear from each other about the events and people that have had the greatest impact on the memory. 

The problem is that we, like most Americans, get up from the loaded dinner table and quickly forget how good we have it.  On Thanksgiving we will tell each other how great life is, and the next day we will be right back to the usual complaints of aches and pains and inconveniences.  This bothers me.  Most of all, I hate that I see this within myself.  We also forget that blessings don't only come in big packages spread out over the year.  They come subtly in every-day packages like electricity, running water, plumbing, a blanket, a mug of tea, a pair of socks, a hoodie.

This year I want Thanksgiving to be the starting point of creating a lifestyle of thankfulness for all the big and "little" (you would realize they weren't so little if your electricity went out for a few days) packages of abundance.  Thanksgiving isn't made to be a one-time thankful fest just before returning to the daily grind.  It's meant to be a reminder that thankful is what we ought to be every single day leading up to and following a celebratory holiday.  Thanksgiving is our chance to get together and tell each other "this is why I've been enjoying life so much this year."  I want to start living deeper, acknowledging even the most insignificant details of daily life.

I am thankful for many "big" things this Thanksgiving, but here are a few highlights of the everyday in my life:

• Accountability partners and time to enjoy God's Word
• Dirty pots and pans to wash, telling me that my mom is cooking up something tasty
• A prompt electric stove top
• Quality internet (this year for the first time in my life!)
• Furnace heating
• My niece's and nephew's art hanging in my room

I hope your Thanksgiving reminds you that life is so full...not just of food!  Now go celebrate what a beautiful life we live.