When the weight of my world is heavy enough to suffocate but I cannot share with others because it all seems so trivial and I would sound like a prima donna who cannot deal with the insignificant and inconsequential…
When prayer time stings with no hand to hold, I must be grateful for the little amount of desire I do have, to sit in church alone.
When the chill of the day makes me long for a new sweater, I must be grateful for the many clothes I have that hang in my closet.
When I am feeling torn between the familiar and comfortable and the desire to be elsewhere and living full time in a new life, I must be grateful for the chance to live in two equally wonderful places in this season.
When I think I am starving and just want some carbs, I must be grateful for fresh carrots and celery and a handful of almonds.
When realization dawns that this could be my new normal, I must be grateful for adventure and never a dull moment.
When rain falls on just-fixed and too-short hair, I must be grateful that it is raining and that I was able to get a haircut.
When I know that I need to care but don’t want to because it is just too much, I must be grateful for the opportunities to serve and bless others by being for them as others have been for me.
When my favorite pen quits penning, I must be grateful for all of the free advertising pens taking up space in the junk drawer.
When the lump in the throat returns along with floods of memories, I must be grateful for pleasant and bittersweet memories that have not yet faded.
When I have to constantly go to the bathroom, I must be grateful I do not live in the days of outhouses.
When the imagined spotlight is on me, the woman who sits alone, I must be grateful that it is imagined.
When my boss gives me projects at the end of a long day, I must be grateful that I love my job AND my boss.
When I want to go back to simpler times that didn’t include heavy decisions, I must be grateful for a devotion that reminds that simpler times were not that simple.
When the dishwasher leaves spots and doesn’t take the dried-on yucky to the unknown wasteland, I must be grateful that I didn’t have to wash those dishes all by hand.
When I think we’re on the same page only to discover we are not even in the same chapter, I must be grateful that at least we are reading the same book and will eventually end up in the same place, ready for discussion and reflection.
When I am on hold for what seems like an hour, I must be grateful that it is only 4 minutes and 12 seconds and the hold music is just temporary and meant to soothe, not irritate.
When my wants and desires are lost at sea, I must be grateful that my needs are met so that I can create and dream those wants and desires.
When the carpet needs cleaned and the dust can be measured by a rain gauge and there’s no looking out the dirty windows without squinting, I must be grateful that I have carpet and a home in progress and actual windows to keep out cold and flying insects versus black plastic covering rectangle holes in the side of the house.
When I am just too tired to put forth the effort to converse, I must be grateful for communication in a card or email, or a knowing look glance, or a reassuring squeeze of the shoulder.
When my tongue is burned from too-hot soup, I must slow down my spoon-to-mouth starvation exercise and be grateful I am not forced to eat cold soup.
When a hard day has been almost too much to bear, I must be grateful for the dog who wags her tail and wants to fall asleep next to me.
When my nose continues to drip, I must be grateful for an abundance of tissues.
And when the words to the song no longer make me cry and my soul feels a thousand miles away, I must be grateful that no one understands like Jesus.
rhondaisgrateful 