A Week of Gratitude

  Last week I decided to post on Facebook each day one thing for which I am grateful. I hadn't planned to do it. My original thought was to post something about how blessed I feel to be working where I am working. I had planned to post a picture of a rock with the words, "Keep the Faith"  carved on it that my boss left near my workstation one morning.
   As I was planning the post, I thought it would be a good exercise for me to expand it to one thing each day for a week. I also decided I had to list why I was grateful for that thing. I decided to include things that might be taken for granted.
  Monday I posted about my job and coworkers as originally planned.
  Tuesday I posted that I was grateful for C. I assured him that the posts not in order of importance.
  Wednesday I posted that I was grateful for the cats. Later that day Scamp peed in on the dining room floor for no reason that I can think of. It was hard to feel grateful for him after that happened.
   Thursday's post was about our house. I am grateful for our house. When we moved out of Wisconsin, I was worried about finding a good solid house at a price we could afford. When we were house hunting we decided on a whim to go to an open house at an address we'd been looking at online. It was a very rainy day. The minute we stepped into the house we both knew. It was the house. It had everything we wanted except a front porch, but that was all right. It had a nice back deck instead. C and I were hard pressed to keep the realtor from seeing how much we wanted this house. The next day I called up my realtor and told her we wanted that house. It didn't take long and we got it.
  It made me think how grateful I am that we have a house and yard. Not everyone does. Not too far away from where we live they are people who have no place to live. I've never understood why, when we have so much wealth in this country, there are people who live day to day without basic shelter.
   On Friday I expressed gratitude for my friends. I don't think you realise how important friends are until you need them or you don't have any. I've been through both. I don't have a lot of friends, but the ones I do have are people that I can rely on.The one thing I hope is that I've been as good a friend to them as they have all been to me.
   Saturday I expressed gratitude for appliances and gadgets. I'm grateful that I don't have to chop wood or burn coal to heat my house or cook my food (we have a gas stove and oven.). I don't have to buy large blocks of ice to keep fresh food from going bad. I don't have to haul water from a stream or cistern in order to clean up. I don't have an outhouse in the backyard. I'm grateful for all these things that make life easier from my washer and dryer to my cell phone and computer. I've been able to stay in better touch with my Dad and others because some bright mind or minds invented the technology that makes cell phones possible. Appliances are another thing that can easily be taken for granted, until they break.
  On Sunday I expressed gratitude for faith and religious freedom. I wrote a bit about what my faith teaches me. I believe we have a duty to take care of the earth and everything on it or in it. I believe that all humans are beloved children of God. I believe I've been put here to learn, to progress and to serve others while I'm learning and progressing. I believe that death is when the spirit leaves the body that housed it on earth and that spirits are immortal. I also believe that I am accountable for my actions to God.
   There are some who mock Christians as a bunch of mindless idiots following a silly fable. I wonder why they feel the need to be so harsh. None of the above beliefs harm anyone. In fact you could argue that those beliefs motivate me to do things that benefit more than just me. perhaps if we humans were a little more kind and a little less cruel it would help ease a lot of challenges we are having right now.
  I'm grateful for my week of gratitude. It made me think and also to remember that there are others who do not have as much as I have. I appreciate what I do have more and if opportunity arises will try to help others who have to go without.