Grateful

After my grandmother was no longer able to host the Mega-Family-Thanksgiving meal, we (otherwise fortunate) offspring were forced to create new traditions of our own. One of mine was the “Blessings Box.” It was a humble creation fashioned from a shoe box, wrapping paper, scissors, and tape.

I blackmailed my family and guests into submitting a “blessing card” before they could receive the feast. It forced us all to stop for a minute and write it down. It made the whole thing less generic, more personal.

What am I truly thankful for?

Am I truly thankful at all?

After seeing the things I’ve seen…and being the places I’ve been…over the past year and a half, my list is a little different from before.

This year,

I am thankful I can breathe.

I am thankful I can swallow.

I am thankful I can move.

I am thankful I can see.

I am thankful I can hear.

I am thankful I can talk.

I am thankful I can go to the bathroom by myself.

(I know people who cannot.)

I am thankful I can walk.

I am thankful I can dance.

I am thankful I can think.

I am thankful I can write.

(I’ve seen people who cannot.)

I am thankful I have a family.

I am thankful I have not outlived my children.

I am thankful that my children speak to me.

I am thankful that my children are not in jail.

(I know people who cannot say these things.)

I am thankful for true friends…and for finding out who they are.

I am thankful for my extended family.

I am thankful for unconditional love.

I am thankful for the compassion of strangers.

(I have encountered people who have no one at all.)

I am not proud that I have been given these great gifts, when others I know have not. I am in no way more worthy than they.

So…

I am especially thankful for forgiveness.

I am thankful for mercy.

I am thankful for grace.

I am thankful that this isn’t all there is.

I am thankful that this is not home.

I am thankful that it’s never too late.

I am thankful that God is in control, and I am not.

I am thankful that I know I am not the master of my own fate.

I am thankful that life has stripped me, broken me, humbled me…

and made me so very, very, very

grateful.