Posted: 02 Dec 2012 09:39 AM PST
Day 14- Medical Insurance
This would not have even crossed my mind in this lineup if it hadn't been for this week. Having medical insurance is something people who have it notoriously take for granted, and something that is really difficult to forget about if you don't happen to have coverage. I've definitely been on both sides of the spectrum on more than one occasion in my life. Last year, I got the flu too. The difference was that I had no health insurance and my husband and I couldn't afford for me to go to the doctor at all. It was probably three times worse than the flu I caught this year. This year, I just went straight to the doctor, accepted his lecture about getting a flu shot (which I fully deserved and have taken to heart), filled a prescription and started to feel better. Last year it took me about three weeks to feel better, then I got mildly sick again with something else, and just barely got my Christmas gifts bought and wrapped in spite of feeling so terrible.
This in light of also needing to begin taking some other medications for some other medical issues this week, I have to take a moment to be so very thankful for my husband having insurance that covers us both. We are so incredibly blessed and provided for by the Lord, and while the answers to our prayers last year weren't instantaneous like we so often hope when we pray, in hindsight, we now see how God was working to better our situation and our lives in his way and in his timing. I'm so very thankful and grateful for that!
Day 15- The Library
We have the advantage of living really close (within a mile or so) to the public library in our area, which until recently, I have completely taken for granted. Then, the other day, I received an epiphany that I didn't have to limit my love for books to the bargain bin indefinitely. I could just simply borrow them by the bagful from the library. I can request books left and right from the surrounding libraries and in a few days they're waiting on me up front to be picked up an enjoyed. My library card, the books, the requests, etc. None of it has cost me even one penny. In a world where nothing seems to be free anymore, I have to say, this has been a great find/recollection. The library is often taken for granted in our digital world, and I'm just as guilty as the next person of eschewing hard copies for the things I can read on my iPad. But lately, it's felt really good to unplug and sit in my little glider chair next to our bed and read at night instead of messing around on the computer. I think it's good for my attention span too!
Day 16- Our Goals
I think it is always good to have goals and things to look forward to in life. Things to always be working toward. David and I have so many goals to dream about and work toward. They require us to eat better, stay within a budget, cast aside the things we can do with out. They encourage us to work harder, spend more time praying and reading the bible together, they bring us closer together for the pleasure of living life in the moment and being thankful for what we have. Our goals teach us to cherish our lives as they are, while simultaneously building a family, a legacy, and allowing God to write our story as he sees fit.
Day 17- I'm thankful we don't have everything
This is an interesting one, because so many people, and myself included at one time, would not count this as something to be thankful for. But I truly am thankful to have our modest means. While so many people were saying to me that we ought to buy a lottery ticket, and speculating what they would do with that kind of money, all I could think about is how much more of a burden that type of money and lifestyle would be for me. I enjoy the simple things, the quiet pleasure of making the best of things, finding something when you thought you had nothing. I enjoy the work involved in using only what the Lord has blessed us with that month. In using the means and resources available to us that we have earned and nothing more. I know to many this may sound strange, and that's all right with me because I may not have articulated this feeling the best way. Of course, the longing to always be a little more comfortable, to have a little more this or that, will always be there. But I think character is built through the struggle, and wisdom and learning is is grown through both trials and triumphs from your own hands. I believe the Lord wants us to be happy and content in our situations, as best we can, through our knowledge of him. I'm thankful for that opportunity, and I'm thankful that my quality of life is so great, especially when I know it could be so much worse! It's amazing how blessed you can feel if you just manage to take a step back and see that all you have is already so much more than you deserve.
Day 18- Our neighborhood
We have some pretty great neighbors. We visit one another, have watched television together, gone shopping, had puppy play dates, and even borrowed cups of sugar from one another a time or two. We are so blessed to live among friendly people the way we do. There have been many times, I've asked a neighbor to come over and walk our dogs because we can't get back home as quickly as we planned. I've walked their dogs, we've rescued pets, had our pets rescued, etc. Most of the people in this neighborhood are extremely friendly - which has been great for us as we moved in here as a just-married couple. It has really helped to make this place our home, to make this neighborhood feel safe and secure. I love the pleasure that comes from seeing a friendly face on a daily basis as we're out walking the dogs or checking the mail. I treasure that we have people that we can trust and rely on all around us. I also know that it doesn't always work that way. My father's neighbors are the kind of people that make a point to avoid the people that live around them at all costs - even to the point of being rude! So it's definitely pertinent to take a moment to give thanks for nice neighbors!
Day 19- The things that make me unique
I often like to complain about all the things that make me really unique. I complain that I have to wash my hair every day or it looks like I haven't washed it in a week. But I'm thankful I have hair to wash! I complain that I'm not thin, and worry about what other people think about it. But I'm thankful that I'm alive, and that God's made me who he wants me to be. I'm thankful for this journey he has placed me on, whatever the outcome. I complain that my teeth aren't perfect, that my feet are too big, that I sometimes lisp when I talk. But I'm so thankful that I have good teeth, two feet to walk on, and that my voice can be heard no matter what it sounds like. It sometimes doesn't matter how blessed we are, when we look at the same reflection in the mirror every day for our entire lives, it's impossible not to find fault with what we see. Instead I want to be grateful that I can see my own reflection. While there are some things I can change about myself, I want to also love myself for being God's creation, and for being the woman he's made me into. When you begin to think of yourself that way, it does seem more difficult to criticize yourself. You're not any less than anyone else, just different. And it's definitely okay to be different. I am thankful to be me.
Day 20- Our new family bible
We have so many bibles in this house. Big ones, little ones. This version and that version. Ones that were gifts, one's that I've acquired, and one that I bought when I became a Christian as a teenager. That bible has been through so much with me. It's highlighted and written in and there are notes in it everywhere. For a really long time, it was my comforter and my guidance when I didn't know where else to go. Recently, my husband and I began a new regiment of trying to include "Bible time" that is, a bible reading into our evening time together. It sparked his interest in the difference between each of the versions we had, and how small in size my personal bible was for us to try to read together. It had been the perfect size for just me. But for us together, it was too small. Then one day, David dropped a bombshell. What if he got us a new bible, a family bible, that could be mine if I needed it. And what if I could let him have my old one? My eyes got wide. Give him MY bible? No! But then I paused, and thought on it for a moment. I remembered hearing from somewhere, that one of the most important things you can do, one of the most loving things you can do is to give a prized possession to someone as a gift. I believe that the Lord was involved here, and he was talking to my heart. I went with my husband the other day and we picked out our new family bible - it's much larger and we've enjoyed reading it together in the evenings for over a week now. As I wrote this, I realized that I haven't heard him give mention again to taking my old bible. But now I realize how important it is to me that he have it. That he have that bible I used to learn to love the Lord, to understand the Gospel, and that encouraged me to give my heart to Christ when I was truly lost. I'm thankful for our new family bible because it is giving me this opportunity to pass mine on to him.
Thanks as always for reading. I send blessings from our home to yours!
Love,
Casey
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