I Choose Gratitude

One of my recent Christian Women's Job Corps graduates sent me a text at 6:20 this morning to let me know she couldn't come in to volunteer today because she didn't have a place to stay and needed to find a shower before reporting to her part time job this evening.  Her reality shook any thought of grumbling about a short night right out of my head.

I choose gratitude.

The roof over my head isn't mine.  It isn't permanent.  But, it's a safe and warm shelter, a space graciously offered to me by people more dear to me than words can say.
The sun often rises before I'm ready to push back the covers, but there are covers, and there is work, and all that a regular paycheck provides.
My family is not without its share of difficulties, but each one is safe, sheltered, and fed.  Parents and children sleep securely under the same roof each night.
My car is making a funny noise, and I have to manually roll down the windows and unlock the doors on it, but it's almost mine.  Each day, I come and go as I please thanks to those tires.
I'm trying to eat healthier these days.  I'm choosing grilled over fried, water over soda, greens over carbs.  It's not fun, but the question is never when or where or how I'm going to eat, rather simply what I will eat.

It's Tuesday, and I want to just be thankful for Cajun Shrimp nail polish and tweetable quotes from my hilarious coworkers, for Saturdays at the pool and courageous friends who help my faith grow by sharing their own, for that tube of cortisone cream I almost forgot was in my purse till the 11 year old sitting next to me in church needed it, and for babies who call me "Horton".  I am thankful for all of those things.  So thankful.  Yet, today I'm acutely aware of the extravagance of those graces in my life.  Today, my list starts all the way back up at the necessities I've taken for granted.  Shelter. Clothing. Food. Safety. And, the God Who Sees it all.