Choosing Thankfulness

When another week starts and I'm faced with the challenges of parenting alone through the day ...

When Joy is irritable and disobedient because of mouth pain ...

When Grace is fussy and not sleeping well because the gas has come back ...

When outside family matters intrude and disrupt and fray ...

When my own body fights against me ...

When loneliness threatens ...

The temptation is to say "Oh pity, pity me!"

"Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you." -1 Thessalonians 5:16-18

"... giving thanks always and for everything to God the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ ..." -Ephesians 5:20

Thank you, Lord, for two healthy children.

Thank you for an older daughter who is usually so happy that her bouts of teething pain-related crankiness are always a shock.

Thank you that Grace does not have colic, but merely gas cramps.

Thank you for a husband who comes home in the afternoons and is willing to help, who doesn't expect me to do everything by myself.

Thank you for the reminders that I can't do everything myself, that I can't be Superwoman. Thank you for humbling my pride daily.

Thank you for the physical reminders to lean constantly on you, that I can do nothing in my own strength.

Thank you for being the Great Comforter.

Thank you for loving me even when I'm as whiny as Joy and as fussy as Grace.

Thank you for providing wisdom to make difficult decisions.

Thank you even for gray skies and rainy days--they make the sun seem all the more beautiful when it shines.

Thank you for worship music that turns my heart to you, for books that help me dwell on you, and for skating tapes that open my heart in worship through their beauty.

Thank you, above all, for sending your beloved Son to take my place, to bear your wrath for my sins, to secure my eternal pardon, and for loving me enough to take away my heart of stone and give me a heart of flesh that yearns for you. Thank you for your love.

Thank you that, no matter what happens in this life, nothing can ever remove your love from me.

Thank you for not being a distant God, but the God Who Is There.

Lord, help me today and every day to turn my eyes toward you in gratitude, rather than dwelling on me.