So Thankful!

I remember one day a couple weeks ago when a friend of mine said on FaceBook:  What would you have if you woke up in the morning and all you had left was what you were thankful for yesterday?

I thought, "That would be great!  Thank you, Lord, for new dishes, for all of the pretty stuff on my walls, for my computers, my foot massager, the pretty things I have in my bedroom, love my designer purses and shoes, thankful for all of my nice clothes, for money to go to Red Lobster, and all of the books in my bookshelves I love to read....oh, yes, and let's not forget the woofers and tweeters that I just put on my computer soundboard, and my Mp3 player that I really like...and what else???  OH, YEAH!  My Android phone!"  I purposely left out the junk that sits around that my husband can't seem to get rid of, and his tools that he refuses to take to the garage....all of the stuff that he says he can't get rid of because his mom owned them or his dad made them (even though they would have been the first to tell him that they were worn out, that he should get rid of them)...... and all of the stuff that I can't seem to part with...craft stuff, cake stuff, technological stuff...stuff, Stuff, STUFF!  I wouldn't mind if I woke up and it wasn't there at all!

And then......came the tsunami, various hurricanes, and several tornadoes.......I saw people without STUFF.....without homes, without clothing or a way to keep the clothes on their backs clean.....without food or a place to eat it.....without pictures to preserve their memories....without anniversary gifts or Christmas presents.....children without toys, AND without their mothers and fathers, or parents without their children.....

So my attitude changed.....God, even if I have junk in my house, I'm thankful because I have a house to keep it in.....If my dishes are not the dishes that I really like, I still love the fact that I have food to eat in them and a table to eat it on.....I may not have designer clothing, and my shoes may have scuffs....my purses are not $200 or $300 dollars, but maybe came from the Goodwill - but that's okay because I have what some others do not have.  I have STUFF....it's mine, and You gave it to me.  Not only am I thankful for MY stuff, but I am also going to be thankful for 'stuff' for other people too - so that when they wake up in the morning, they will have that for which I have been thankful FOR them.

My husband is strong and healthy, faithful and true to God and family values.....for those things I am thankful too!  My kids are all safe with their families around them.  God is good!

I'm thankful for the country I live in - God bless America....I'm thankful not only for MY children, but for the children who belong to others.....God bless America, yes....but God bless the world who does without on a daily basis because many of them do not know you, and do not know how to be thankful.  See their need, and bless them - and hopefully they will learn to be thankful too.  You hold the whole world in your hands....and for that, I am thankful!