As a Mom of two young girls I am humbled by how often my
kids are the ones teaching me. Today was
no exception. As my six year old and I
were driving she declared we would play the “Thankful Game”. Although I could fairly easily determine the rules
of this heretofore unexperienced game she went on to explain we would take
turns saying things we were thankful for.

She threw the gauntlet down with her first turn –

I am thankful for Jesus dying for our sins because without
that we would not be able to be here like this.

Wow okay. Proud Mom moment. My second born runs either hot or cold so
either she is churning out profound thoughts like this or I am trying to keep
her from running in to traffic. It’s a charmed
life we lead. I tried to follow her lead
and expressed my thankfulness for our wonderful church family where we could worship
Jesus together.

Her second turn – wood.
She’s thankful for wood because we can turn it in so many things. Oh and
her third – trees that have sap because that becomes syrup.

I felt a little less pressure at this point like I could throw
out some standards – running water and clothes. Over the course of our twenty
minute drive we covered a lot.

Some of our things were big – food, water, our house, school,
our family, friends, medicine, sunshine.

Some were small – playing memory, soccer, hugs, the fall
colors, our car, smiles.

What the game did for my day was remind me to ground myself in
gratitude. To practice gratefulness. If we do not consciously discuss, bring to
mind, praise God for and acknowledge the legion of blessings in our lives it is
too easy to miss them. To focus on the
things that we would change, the real difficulties that we all deal with.
Whether it comes in the form of health struggles, relational difficulties,
career problems or so many others. Recognizing
our blessings does not negate or ignore our struggles but it does correct the focus.