I am grateful for opportunities. Opportunities to reach out and touch. Opportunities to make someone else smile. Opportunities to speak to a stranger who might need a kind word. Opportunities to be-friend a young girl who has had a rough life and no longer has family who wants her. Opportunities to send notes in the mail. Opportunities to buy diapers for a family who needs them. Opportunities to pay for the guy behind me. Opportunities to deliver cookies to a neighbor, just because. Opportunities to leave work and take a break in the middle of a day. Opportunities to share pictures of my grandchildren with others. Opportunities to spend time with my Dad.

I am grateful for a public restroom floor crawling with roly-polies today. It makes me grateful I work in the woods in the middle of a city.

I am grateful for good tires on the car.

I am grateful for this oppressive humidity, because it makes me appreciate when the air is dry and the heat is tolerable.

“Our stories affect one another whether we know it or not. Sometimes obedience isn’t for us at all, but for another. We don’t know how God holds the kingdom in balance or why he moves a chess piece at a crucial time; we might never see the results of his sovereignty… I might just be one shade of one color of one strand, but I’m a part of an elaborate tapestry that goes beyond my perception.” 
― Jen Hatmaker, 7: An Experimental Mutiny Against Excess

 

I am grateful that the Royals are in first place and are doing so well right now.

I am grateful for the time we were able to spend enjoying the bunnies in the yard. I am not so grateful for the neighbor’s cat. In a matter of hours, it was survival of the meanest.  

I am grateful for LED flashlights that we had to try and locate our furry friends and spot the predator lurking next door.

I am grateful for little squares of a milk chocolate Hershey bar. What a delicious, beautiful, simple gift that has been around for so many years and is still wonderful.

And I am grateful for my son-in-law’s newsletter from his Youth For Christ ministry. I am grateful for his ministry and his ability to write so well.