Thankful for the Little Things

I usually do this post just before Thanksgiving, for obvious reasons. This week’s blog hop is about Gratitude.

Thanks for reading. Have you checked out Nicole Sorrell’s blog on the same subject? Are you familiar with her book?

After you’ve visited her blog and checked out her book, you can join us by clicking the links.
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I’m grateful for so many things that it’s not always easy to pin them all down. And I’m grateful for things that other people find odd because they’re often considered challenges by others.

I believe that nothing in this life can’t be used by God for the betterment of the people going through it.

Yes, I’m grateful for my family, my home, my job … all those normal ordinary things that people ought to not take for granted. But really, we take a lot of things for granted that we shouldn’t, so I’m going to highlight some of the things I think about that usually gets odd looks from others.

I’m thankful for my heating system (s) that keeps my Alaska home warm. Trust me, when it isn’t working, you quickly realize what a blessing it is. Our system includes both a diesel-fired boiler and a wood stove and we would not want to live without either one of them. Diesel is convenient, but expensive (yes, Alaska is an oil-producing state, but our cost for fuel averages about a dollar more per gallon than the national average … and I cannot explain why because the explanations given make no sense). Wood is a lot of work, but affordable, and easier on the environment … it also smells wonderful. But our local government has been in the process of making it virtually impossible to burn, so it may inspire a “I’m grateful for being a rebel” post in the future.

I’m grateful for a freezer full of salmon and blueberries because it means that no matter what happens to the tenuous 2000-mile-long supply line that brings food to my community, we can eat. There was a winter when we ate no meat besides salmon or caribou for 103 days. That was a financial hard time when the cost of crude oil fell off a cliff and Alaskans took the brunt of it. And I am grateful to have lived through that because I learned how to be content with simple meals and not least of which because it looks like we might be headed for a similar era in the near future. I will then be grateful that my children will have the opportunity to learn the lesson of simplicity and contentment.

I’m grateful that my gypsy bluegrass musician daughter has fallen in with a group of similar gypsies who appear to take care of each other. I would rather she was home safe going to college to prepare for a paying career, but I trust God has His hand on her as she pursues the traveler life for this season of time.

I am grateful for October sunshine filtering through bare birch branches just because it is so lovely. Photos don’t do it justice.

I’m thankful for learning that gratitude doesn’t need to be for big things to be well and truly great.

I’m grateful to the One True God, Jesus Christ, Maker of heaven and earth and my often ungrateful soul, for being patient with me as I learn to be content in all things.

I’m grateful for so many things, but that’s a good start.