GRATITUDE for the Little Things

My daily journal entries have been a little different of late. Normally I start my devotional time with a review of the past twenty-four hours and a listing of things I am thankful for, just to get my thinking started along the right track. But since my elbow injury at the start of the year, my entries (when I could write them, lol) have been different, smaller in scope and more specific in detail. “Got three curlers in my hair today!” was a biggie. “A six degree change in my arm extension at the therapist's office!” read another. “Flossed my teeth for the first time in...” well, never mind. No need to gross you out when you're kind enough to read my blog. But who ever took the time to realize that it takes two fully functioning hands to be able to floss one's teeth?! I surely didn't. It was just one of those things I did without thinking as I prepared for the more important moments of the day. Now those little victories have become my day.

God has used this circumstance to reinforce what I read last year in Ann Voskamp's bestseller, One Thousand Gifts. A life-changing read, it details her journey from a mere existence into a fully-lived life by finding joy and expressing gratitude for the very smallest elements in it. More than just noticing those moments as they blew by, she captured them, on paper, sometimes with her camera, and always in her heart. By giving thanks for each one she allowed the love of the Gifter to fill her life with joy...on a moment to moment basis. And then she went on the hunt for more!

My biggest worry in my lengthy recovery time surprisingly has not been about whether my elbow would ever be fully functional again, or whether my employer would hold my job, or where the money would come from to pay my bills. It's been about wasting this unexpected gift of time off from work I've been given. I've made lists and then fretted when items haven't been crossed off and rooms remain cluttered and others' expectations haven't been met. Yet my journal entries have shown me that in God's eyes, at least, I've gotten it right.

We've all been given just a limited amount of time on the earth. With our career paths mapped out and our bucket lists getting longer by the day, we're on the run to get it all done before time is called. And yet, it's not about the length of time we're given but what we do with those moments that counts. God can use a setback of some sort to take our eyes off our futures and set them squarely on today. The secret to not wasting a lifetime is to not waste a day. Perhaps the biggest blessing of this whole situation for me is learning that giving gratitude for the little things... is really the biggest thing there is.

“In every thing give thanks: for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you.”

(1 Thessalonians 5:18 KJV)