On Being Grateful for Gifts

During a Sunday sermon, something our minister said broke through my internal running to-do list and sleepy no-caffeine-yet fog. It wasn't something new, but for some reason it happened to resonate with me. "Be grateful for the gifts you've been given." Of course - it's not a lightbulb moment, more like a "duh" moment (yes, I know next week's sermon will be "give us more of what you're grateful for," but we'll worry about that later). But, I took it to heart and spent the day trying to be grateful instead of complaining. It didn't work so well when I tried it on someone else...

Rob: This traffic is terrible. We are wasting our Sunday sitting here burning up gas.
Me: But, think of the time we have here together to talk, freed from the stress of being glued to the TV all day watching football. You have two good legs with which to drive, two good eyes to see the road and the means to afford a car!
Rob: We are wasting our Sunday afternoon sitting in traffic and I'm missing the games.

So, I can't fix everyone. But, I did spend the day trying to see the glass as being half-full and taking time to appreciate our home, that Rob has a job, that we have three mostly good and healthy kids and that Rob and I are healthy and mostly fit and happy. It's a refreshing way to view things and I will try to add a little more gratefulness to my life...so right now I'm grateful for a two year old who can speak his mind and is tearing me away from the computer.