Thankful

When times are good and we are coasting along smoothly through life, it’s easy to just go with the flow and not see the hurt and hardships that others around us may be experiencing. I’m reading a book for my book club called A Thousand Splendid Suns, and I’m totally sucked in. In fact, last night Jon was watching sports (maybe basketball, but could have been baseball) on one end of the couch and I was reading on the other. Every so often he would say something to me, and I would look up at him from the pages of the book and just nod or say “Wow” or “Really?” Sorry, Jon. You know I love you. Anyway, back to the book. It’s the story of the trials two Afghan women endure in their war-torn city of Kabul, and last night the Taliban came into power and made life absolutely miserable for women. They literally seemed to have no hope. It got me thinking about how good we really have it in America, even with health care issues and a bad economy right now. More specifically, God is so good to me, but so many times, I still through little pity parties for myself. Now, in all honesty, that’s probably not going to change anytime soon, but when I went to bed last night I couldn’t help but feel so thankful for the blessings that surround me everyday—a steadfast and healthy family, a secure roof over our heads, plenty of food and water, good jobs, and the promise and presence of Jesus through whatever life has in store for us.