Thankfulness...it makes the coldness go away!

I woke up this morning with my mom on my mind.  She is in the hospital because of a blood clot at the moment, but that lady has really been through a lot the past few months...years...decades.  I won't go into details other than she was diagnosed with Rheumatoid Arthritis (RA) when I was a teenager.  It's a nasty, mean disease, and I hate it for what it's done to her body.  She's had so many surgeries that I've lost count.  I jokingly call her a trouble-maker, and she jokingly says back to me, "Well, everybody stopped paying attention to me...I had to do SOMETHING!".  I think it's good to laugh in tough times when you don't really know what else to do.

Being blatantly honest, when I heard that Mom was being hospitalized yesterday, it put me in a not so thankful mood.  Also, this season is the apex of my husband's work year.  He is the manager of a retail toy store, and is working so much that his employees and customers see him much more than the kids and I do.  I have dubbed myself the 'Toy Store Widow' the past several years just for a laugh, but again being honest, this time of year is tough on all of us, especially Keith.  He comes home completely mentally and physically exhausted, and is usually starving because he doesn't even have time to sit down and eat a meal for the 12-14 hours he spends at (and in transit to) work 6 days a week.  I'm not trying to make anyone feel sorry for us, and I know that many people have it much worse than us.  I am just laying out the facts.  All of these facts lead up to this fact...my thankfulness meter has been sadly low lately.  Thanksgiving is next week; I should be overflowing with thankfulness, right?!

The simple answer is yes, I should be.  I should not let the circumstances that cause me anxiety or that stress me out steal my joy.  Period.  No, exclamation mark!  Two, even!!  I have so very much to be thankful for; I could probably start saying them one by one right this minute and keep going until my final breath and still not be done.  True story!  My Sunday School teacher, Sis. Gloria, tells of one of her former pastors who questioned why we should have only one day, Thanksgiving, to focus on what we are thankful for.  In fact, he suggested that it be just the opposite; we should have one day to be complainy and un-thankful, and the rest of the year should be spent giving thanks.  Stew on that for awhile.  I have, and it has really helped to put things into perspective for me.

My 3 year old son, Will, summed it up perfectly this morning.  He was cold when he woke up, and that gave me the perfect excuse to wrap him in a big, soft blanket and snuggle up with him in his Daddy's big chair in the living room.  He looked up at me, smiled, and said, "Ahhhh.  This makes the coldness go away.".  I instantly had the thought that it's the same with being thankful.  On tough days when life isn't going exactly right, if you take the time to think about all that you have to be thankful for, it will make the coldness  go away.  I'm going to make a conscious, daily effort to focus in on the many blessings in my life instead of on the very few things that are negative.  I am 100% positive that it will make all the difference in my attitude and demeanor.
For now, I will leave you with a sweet picture of Will and my mom, 2 of the great blessings in my life.  This picture sure does warm me up on a cold day.

Melissa