Things We Take For Granted

I will give thanks to you, Lord, with all my heart; I will tell of all your wonderful deeds. (Psalm 9:1 NIV)

Our lives seem to be getting harder and harder every day these days.  The economy, crime, natural disasters, epidemic cancer striking our loved ones if not ourselves...  It's so hard to remember to be grateful.  But the fact is we take so much for granted. 


When is the last time you thanked God for the everyday miracles in your life?  Things like sight and hearing and the ability to walk?  I remember seeing a video of a young woman who was deaf since birth and received a cochlear implant.  The video shows her hearing her own voice for the first time in her life.  It was ver emotional to see her gratitude for something most of us take for granted.

Oh, the things we take for granted each and every day....  We have so much and yet it is our tendency to focus on what we do not have.  If we have our health, food on the table every day and a roof over our head, we have much more than a great percentage of the rest of the world.  

The thing is, it's not about appearing ungrateful before God.  Gratitude changes our own hearts.  When we live gratefully, we can't be negative. When we live gratefully we become so much more generous. Gratitude is just another tool God gives us to find the joy and abundance in our lives.


Spend some time today thanking God for things you haven't thanked him for lately... the things you are used to having... the things that you have taken for granted.  You will have a great day if you do it.


Father,
Thank you for the incredible miracle of sight and hearing.  Thank you that I can walk.  Thank you that both my husband and I are employed.  Thank you for dependable vehicles, food on the table each day and a comfortable bed to sleep in at night.  Thank you for air conditioning to help me through the summer and heat to get me through the winter.  Thank you for these things and the hundreds of other things I just assume will be mine each day.  Amen.