Reflections: Gratitude

Yesterday, I was blessed with the opportunity to help out a neighbor. Afterwards, they thanked me and told me how grateful they were that we could help. Then on Facebook, a friend of mine posted how grateful she was for something that had happened in her life that day. I also overheard a mom tell her daughter that she should be grateful for such and such and that got me thinking about the things I am grateful for.

I am grateful for many, many things. I have a roof over my head, clothes on my back, food on my table. I am grateful for our 8 children and their families. I have rediscovered my creative side and I am enjoying the experience of bettering my talents, if you will.

I also have many people in my life, both past and present, that have blessed me with so much. My man and I both come from large families and I am grateful for their love and support.

I was going through my journal this morning looking for some information on another topic when I came across an entry from Feb 1, 2014. It sums up what I was feeling that day, what I was grateful for that day. I had posted it on Facebook when I wrote it, so it's not a private thing, but in some ways it is a very private thing.

Here it is....( I changed names for the sake of putting it on the blog)

So, I am sitting here at 3:01 am, in my geriatric chair/bed, messaging my son's friend and updating my sister who is in Mexico. Feeling a bit overwhelmed by this past week, and not by what we have been through, but by gratitude.

Gratitude for things like how much I love this Man of mine, for the meals brought to us, the laundry soap, the outpouring of prayers, especially those prayers from people who haven't done so in years, or maybe this is their first time and that's how much love they have for us.

And Gratitude for listening ears and hearts, and a son's strong arms, and another son's tender feelings, and another son's cheeky smirk.

Gratitude for daily conversations with daughters and granddaughters, and a quick snuggle with a grand-baby, and a trusting hand slipped into mine as I pick up a grandson also overwhelmed by his own world.

Gratitude for brothers-in-law who try to see the positive in everything, and the one who disregards a long ferry ride (both ways) to visit for an hour or two, and for the reminder from another to take one step at a time with Faith in every footstep

Gratitude for sisters-in-law, one who laughs off my incompetence with technology and knew that I really meant biopsy when I said autopsy, and for the one who legally isn't anymore, but will always be my sister, and of course, gratitude for the Doctors, nurses, lab techs, and all other behind the scene people who have poked, prodded, biopsied, fed, x-rayed My Man and have gotten us both through this week.

Gratitude for young men living worthy to hold the Priesthood so they can minister to those in need, and mostly I am overwhelmed by my Heavenly Father who has been everywhere prompting people in the right direction as they diagnose, plan treatments, use their hard earned skills to save a life, and guiding other to pray and perform service to my family.

Okay, enough mushy stuff...What brought this on, you ask? Well...sitting here in my geriatric chair/bed beside My Man's bed, listening to him breathe in slumber, I looked out the window beside me to study the beautiful view of a sleeping city, they sky all clouded over, except for one small, cloudless space, and there, twinkling away- one bright, beautiful star- the only one visible in the sky- and I felt loved and at peace.