Let’s Just Appreciate What We Have!

If you read my blogs or know me personally you realize I am all about gratitude.  Giving thanks for my blessings is what I preach about all day long.  Past blessing, current blessing and those yet to come there are all kinds of things to be grateful for.  This blog is going to be all about the fun and beautiful things in life.  Simple blessings and gratitude.

The first thing I am always grateful for is my amazing grandson, Levi.  He brightens my day with his smile, his conversation and his curiosity in figuring out how things work.  Did I mention he is almost 2 1/2 years old and acts like he’s five!  He has the most expressive face and his eyes sparkle when he says “LoLo”.  I may be overly sensitive to his ways but grandmas are supposed to be that way.   I thank God daily that Levi is healthy and I find his brilliance and personality a bonus!

I also look around my office and  am grateful for all the gratitude hearts I am surrounded by.  I know each of these hearts have been blessed and will soon be in someone’s hands that are searching to find HOPE.  I probably have 300 in my office right now.  The possibility of these hearts reaching a child that has anxiety or a woman that has been rescued from human trafficking make me encouraged to help others have a better life.  I thanks God for my ministry.  There are days I pick up and hold different hearts just to comfort myself and enjoy them while I have them.  Over 2,800 have passed through my hands in 2 years as they were gifted to others and each one is a work of art.  The candles on the shelves that I  hand pour and sell through my ministry also makes my office smell like a botanical garden.

My cat Mike can’t stay out of the hearts when he is in my office.

There are so many simple things too I am grateful for currently and  that in previous years I have over looked.  Here are a few.

I love when out of the blue “Let Him Fly” by the Dixie Chicks comes on the radio.  When I was separated from my first husband and was wavering on if divorce was the right answer  I listened to this song over and over and over.

Ain’t no talkin’ to this man
Ain’t no pretty other side
Ain’t no way to understand
Stupid words of pride
It would take an acrobat
And I already tried all that
I’m gonna let him fly, mmm

Every time I hear it and it’s not very often I smile and know that God placed that song in my heart to get me where I am today and I am grateful.

I love crawling into bed after I have washed the bedding too!  Oh gosh we only have one set of sheets for our bed and they are so soft and smell so good after the weekly laundering.  I guess this is probably my most comfy spot in our whole house and why I choose for it as my quite spot to spend with God every morning and night.  I wake up thanking God in this softness and go to sleep praying.  A simple comfort but it makes life so much more grand.  As you can see it’s not a designer bed by any means but can you feel how comfy it is from this picture?It’s messy, lived in and all me.

In my ministry I have the blessing of participating in church service with dementia residents at a local assisted living facility.  I am grateful I can do this because the residents although they have issues with their memories they all seem to remember Jesus.  They sing praises to God in hymns and talk of Jesus which warms my heart.  I am comforted by the thought that if I get dementia I will still know Jesus.  The picture below is Jesus from “The Chosen” which I highly recommend watching online.

You know the last thing I would like to mention is how grateful I am for nature.  I love being outside and just feeling the sun and breeze on my face.  I notice that every city I have traveled to has a different smell, let me explain that.  When I was growing up in Granite City, Illinois there was a tea factory that when the wind blew the smell of tea being processed filled the air.  It wasn’t every day but it was a distinct odor of strong instant tea. I can open a jar of instant tea and smell that same smell today.  I am grateful for this childhood memory.  It closed in 1994.

In Charleston, South Carolina it rained every day we visited and it smelled musty because everything is so old there.  I just remember going to all the historical sites with the 300-400 years of aged buildings mixed with humid rain.  It wasn’t offensive  but just distinct and I am grateful for the opportunity to smell it.

Here where I live in Texas the air is clean and fresh.  I love to sit on our patio and just feel the fresh breeze blow against me.  I can close my eyes and appreciate the warm sun and I feel my hair and top blow back and forth……ah I am grateful.  I think I appreciate the wind because of the story Jesus tells in the Bible of the Holy Spirit.  He talks about how you can feel the wind yet not see it and you don’t know where is comes from  as he references the Holy Spirit talking to Nicodemus.

John 3:8 The wind blows wherever it pleases. You hear its sound, but you cannot tell where it comes from or where it is going. So it is with everyone born of the Spirit.”

This is what I look at when I sit and breathe.  See our beautiful blue Texas sky and lush green trees?  The tree is a bit fuzzy because the breeze was blowing.

I hope as you move through your day that you stop and appreciate what you see in your life either daily or in your memories.  We have so many beautiful blessings from God surrounding us.  We didn’t ask for these things, He just gives them to us because He loves us.

James 1:17  Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights, who does not change like shifting shadows.

All my love and gratitude-LoLo