Thankful Thoughts

I need to be showering and getting ready to spend some girl time with one of my best friends at the mall today, but I can’t.  I have too much flowing around inside my brain.  I need to blog first.

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I just have to say that I adore this time of year.  Yes, it’s stressful and fast-paced and rushed, but I love it.  I love getting to spend time with my family.  My whole family.  Throughout the year I see bits and pieces here and there, but during the holidays everyone comes TOGETHER.  It’s so nice.  It’s so right.  We are all such crazy, messed up people, but when we come together, we make sense.  We get each other.  There is no other place I feel more comfortable and more at home than with my family.  And I feel like that should be a “duh” kind of statement to make.  It only seems natural that I should feel that way.  But I know that it’s simply not true for everyone.  Some people don’t feel comfortable around their family.  Some people may even dread family get-togethers. 

This simple fact makes me realize how blessed I truly am.  God has blessed me with a one-of-a-kind family that I would not trade for the world.  Then He blessed me all over again when He gave me Justin.  Along with the best husband on earth, I inherited a whole new family that loves me like crazy.  I don’t deserve it, but I sure am thankful.

 

I’ve been thinking a lot this past week about material things, too.

I have always pictured my future like this: husband with a great paying job and great benefits, several children running around inside a big, beautiful home with a bedroom for each child, sparkling new SUV to haul all the children around in, a big yard with a fence to hold our animals and playsets and possibly swimming pool, closets full of the latest fashions, and all the toys I could think of….

But lately, I’ve had a heart change.  I’ve come to the point where if I never have any of those things I will be content.  I realize now how much those things just don’t matter.  Those things will not make us happy.  They will not make us better people.  They will not impact eternity.

I told Justin the other day that I would rather live in a small place with our children all sharing a bedroom, driving a used minivan, and shopping/eating out only on rare occasion if it means I could be happy and have children that grow up knowing the Lord and knowing their parents love them.

I’m not saying I don’t want nice things.  Just that I don’t need things to be happy.

 

With all of this thinking I’ve been doing, I’ve become much more grateful for what we currently have.  I realize that although we don’t have much, we have much more than many people do.  We are blessed beyond measure.

And during this Thanksgiving week, I will be sure to tell God many times how thankful I am.