It’s Day Five of the Three Things I’m Grateful For Exercise for Thanksgiving week.
I’d love for you to join me! I started on Sunday but feel free to jump in now or anytime. See here for the simple three-step instructions for joining in Three Things I’m Grateful For Exercise.
Here are my Three Things I’m Grateful For Today {Day Five}
1. Delicious Food shared with a family so large we have to rent a church hall to fit us all.
2. A Thank You note made by daughter that she set in my bathroom for me to find. She thanked me for loving her so much and for all the sacrifices I make for her that I didn’t know she’s even noticed. Her simple act of gratitude for what she’s received from me brought me so much joy.
3. A hard but so important phone conversation with someone dear to me as we both go through something difficult together, I’m glad we have each other.
As I sit here with my stomach bulging in satisfaction, I am filled with gratefulness for the gift of delicious food and time with family. Yet, a temptation lurks in my mind – to feel ashamed. Ashamed that I have had so much food and yet others have none. Somewhere today, maybe a mile away from me or maybe a thousand, a family is not full tonight. Their children’s tummies aren’t in pain because they had too much too eat but because they haven’t eaten in so long their stomach acids are desperately trying to scrape off any residual nutrition from their intestinal walls they can find.
This is truth, this is the reality of the world. It pains me and brings me sorrow. Yet…feeling sorry for these families isn’t going to stave their hunger. And if I allow guilt to poison my mind and make me feel ashamed for getting to eat such a delicious meal with my family, it will not stop their stomachs from groaning.
If I am ungrateful for what I have received and allow myself to wallow in self-inflicted guilt, it will steal my joy. And if I have no joy, I have no generosity because I have nothing to share. But, if I look at all that I have and all that I have been given and I am filled with true and genuine Gratitude, then I will be filled with Joy and my joy will overflow to others so that I may share this joy and what we’ve been given generously with others.
What Three Things are you grateful for?
Feel free to share them in the comments, on your own blog (and link back here!), the Simplemama Facebook page, Twitter (#ThreeThingsImGrateful4 or #Grateful or ), or maybe you can just share it with your spouse or family during prayer.
