Before I get going on my gratitude list today, I just realized that I have been posting on facebook and Google Plus (LOVE Google + and wish more people would switch!) that I'm doing "day three of ten" and so forth, when the original challenge was to do two weeks, not ten days.
My bad!
So, this is Day Five of Fourteen. Just so you know.
Someone reminded me today just how much I take for granted - the little things that wouldn't matter to me because I "don't have that problem" or just wouldn't think about it because it's so much a part of my life - so I started thinking about these things and decided to be grateful for them (or their absence, as the case may be).
A place to live. How many homeless people are out there and I don't thank God for my own shelter? I am so thankful for a warm, dry, safe place to call home. I love to listen to the sound of the rain outside, knowing I don't have to be out in it. The sounds of laughter and singing come from a place of fulness, of security, of safety.
Pure and running hot and cold water. Wow. I remember my mother telling me that she used to have to go to the neighbour's well-house with a couple of buckets to get enough water to do the cooking and the washing with. Then she'd have to heat the water on the stove to put in the sink to wash dishes or clothes. Sometimes she'd have to make several trips. I can't imagine having to do that! And there are still millions of people every day who have no pure water to drink - what water there is comes from polluted sources, with nasty things like e. coli in it. How fortunate I am to live in a place where those basic necessities are not a problem for most!
Indoor plumbing. I actually remember having to use a chamber-pot when I was a lot younger than I am now. My earliest memory - I would have been around five - is of my mom carrying the pot down the stairs and to the outhouse, complaining that people let it get too full. I remember how hard Dad worked to put in the bathroom that she still uses at night. What a gift it was to not have to go to the outhouse anymore. Or empty dirty water from washing dishes out onto a patch of ground beyond the vegetable garden. What a gift it still is! Even going without a bathroom for a few days (like during the aftermath of Hurricane Juan) was enough to drive our family to distraction! How grateful I am for this simple, everyday luxury.
Health. I'm healthy - more or less. More THAN less. Some friends of mine are going through some really tough waters in the health aspect of their lives. Whether a terminal illness or chronic pain, being unhealthy is NO FUN. The few bouts I've had with poor health convince me that good health is a gift, not to be taken for granted. Yet often I do. Or I complain about frittering little things that don't matter compared to the good things (like my health) with which I've been blessed.
Health Care. Yes, the health care system in Canada leaves a lot to be desired. Wait times are abysmal, and the proprietary attitude of some doctors is unbearable to more than just the nurses who work with them. However - there are children who live on a mountaintop in Haïti who don't have access to medical care at all - unless a missionary team comes in and donates it. Mothers and children in El Salvador have nobody to turn to if they become sick or there are complications with a pregnancy. At least in Canada, even if one has to wait eight hours to see a doctor, one is available. And the money to pay that doctor - though it comes from our taxes - does not come out of our pockets at the most stressful moments of our lives. It's a matter of perspective. We truly are blessed.
Electricity. Flip a switch; the light comes on. Push a button; a stove preheats to 350º F. Without electricity, we would be in the dark for the majority of the year. Fire hazards would abound from people lighting candles to keep from stumbling into things..... just like it was for centuries before man learned how to harness this amazing tool. Electricity powers all our gadgets - on which we have come to rely: refrigerators, stoves, microwaves, televisions, the electrical components (batteries) of cars, even some phones. Not to mention computers. Life would be so much different without it. We get a taste of it when the power goes out - and we are so grateful when it comes back on. Yet when it works, we hardly think of it. Wow.
Technology. Computers, cell phones, the Internet, e-readers, iPods, iPads, even older technologies like cars, radio waves and - of course - the invention that has transformed our world more than anything since the invention of the light bulb: Television. Instantaneous transmissions by satellite so we can see things happen in our world in real time. It's all so incredibly amazing - we can get information, or surround ourselves with music, or be in touch with anyone in the world, in just a few moments. What would our great grandparents have thought of all of this when they were young people? To them, the most amazing thing was the motor-car and the airplane. To us, these things are common-place. It seems that our ability to create new technologies and improve on old ones is limited only by our imaginations. I just hope we use our powers for good (wink).
A job. Especially since my husband retired, I have been more and more grateful for a steady source of income, even as difficult as it is sometimes to make ends meet. If it were not for my job, we would not have some of the things we enjoy today - a mortgage-free house, and the ability to pay the monthly bills and put food on the table. So many need to reach out to wonderful places like the Food Banks or the soup kitchens (here it's called "The Upper Room.") But for the grace of God, there go I.
Government services. Everything from garbage pickup to job-search assistance programs, to public schools, to transportation / highways, to police. We complain a lot about the quality of some of these services, but if they didn't exist - we'd be buried in trash, and only the most wealthy could be educated. We'd never be able to get around from place to place as easily as we do now. Crime would abound and nobody would be safe - ever.
Community services. These would include churches, other charities, drop-in centres, crisis centres, 12-step groups and self-help groups. So many resources exist in our western society to help just about any high-risk group or to provide support for those who need it when we need it most. They provide a rallying-point for people to come to, for help and information. And they provide an outlet for people who want to help someone else.
And the list goes on ... and on ... and on. I've only just scratched the surface.
My bad!
So, this is Day Five of Fourteen. Just so you know.
Someone reminded me today just how much I take for granted - the little things that wouldn't matter to me because I "don't have that problem" or just wouldn't think about it because it's so much a part of my life - so I started thinking about these things and decided to be grateful for them (or their absence, as the case may be).
A place to live. How many homeless people are out there and I don't thank God for my own shelter? I am so thankful for a warm, dry, safe place to call home. I love to listen to the sound of the rain outside, knowing I don't have to be out in it. The sounds of laughter and singing come from a place of fulness, of security, of safety.
Pure and running hot and cold water. Wow. I remember my mother telling me that she used to have to go to the neighbour's well-house with a couple of buckets to get enough water to do the cooking and the washing with. Then she'd have to heat the water on the stove to put in the sink to wash dishes or clothes. Sometimes she'd have to make several trips. I can't imagine having to do that! And there are still millions of people every day who have no pure water to drink - what water there is comes from polluted sources, with nasty things like e. coli in it. How fortunate I am to live in a place where those basic necessities are not a problem for most!
Indoor plumbing. I actually remember having to use a chamber-pot when I was a lot younger than I am now. My earliest memory - I would have been around five - is of my mom carrying the pot down the stairs and to the outhouse, complaining that people let it get too full. I remember how hard Dad worked to put in the bathroom that she still uses at night. What a gift it was to not have to go to the outhouse anymore. Or empty dirty water from washing dishes out onto a patch of ground beyond the vegetable garden. What a gift it still is! Even going without a bathroom for a few days (like during the aftermath of Hurricane Juan) was enough to drive our family to distraction! How grateful I am for this simple, everyday luxury.
Health. I'm healthy - more or less. More THAN less. Some friends of mine are going through some really tough waters in the health aspect of their lives. Whether a terminal illness or chronic pain, being unhealthy is NO FUN. The few bouts I've had with poor health convince me that good health is a gift, not to be taken for granted. Yet often I do. Or I complain about frittering little things that don't matter compared to the good things (like my health) with which I've been blessed.
Health Care. Yes, the health care system in Canada leaves a lot to be desired. Wait times are abysmal, and the proprietary attitude of some doctors is unbearable to more than just the nurses who work with them. However - there are children who live on a mountaintop in Haïti who don't have access to medical care at all - unless a missionary team comes in and donates it. Mothers and children in El Salvador have nobody to turn to if they become sick or there are complications with a pregnancy. At least in Canada, even if one has to wait eight hours to see a doctor, one is available. And the money to pay that doctor - though it comes from our taxes - does not come out of our pockets at the most stressful moments of our lives. It's a matter of perspective. We truly are blessed.
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Technology. Computers, cell phones, the Internet, e-readers, iPods, iPads, even older technologies like cars, radio waves and - of course - the invention that has transformed our world more than anything since the invention of the light bulb: Television. Instantaneous transmissions by satellite so we can see things happen in our world in real time. It's all so incredibly amazing - we can get information, or surround ourselves with music, or be in touch with anyone in the world, in just a few moments. What would our great grandparents have thought of all of this when they were young people? To them, the most amazing thing was the motor-car and the airplane. To us, these things are common-place. It seems that our ability to create new technologies and improve on old ones is limited only by our imaginations. I just hope we use our powers for good (wink).
A job. Especially since my husband retired, I have been more and more grateful for a steady source of income, even as difficult as it is sometimes to make ends meet. If it were not for my job, we would not have some of the things we enjoy today - a mortgage-free house, and the ability to pay the monthly bills and put food on the table. So many need to reach out to wonderful places like the Food Banks or the soup kitchens (here it's called "The Upper Room.") But for the grace of God, there go I.
Government services. Everything from garbage pickup to job-search assistance programs, to public schools, to transportation / highways, to police. We complain a lot about the quality of some of these services, but if they didn't exist - we'd be buried in trash, and only the most wealthy could be educated. We'd never be able to get around from place to place as easily as we do now. Crime would abound and nobody would be safe - ever.
Community services. These would include churches, other charities, drop-in centres, crisis centres, 12-step groups and self-help groups. So many resources exist in our western society to help just about any high-risk group or to provide support for those who need it when we need it most. They provide a rallying-point for people to come to, for help and information. And they provide an outlet for people who want to help someone else.
And the list goes on ... and on ... and on. I've only just scratched the surface.
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