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 Thankful for Simple Things
by Mike Barres
It was twenty degrees outside, blowing ice, and dark. My wife and I were going out hunting. I know — what a great wife! We had our spots already set. She went to the pallet in the tree and I went to my spot on top of the hill. It was sooooooo cold. From my vantage point on top of the hill I could see if anyone was moving below. At about nine o'clock I noticed some men coming out of the woods, but I didn't see my wife. We had decided to stay out in the woods until eleven o'clock. We met at the truck. It had not warmed up very much and we were soooooooo cold. I was so proud of my wife for sticking it out. She had outlasted those men who came out early. Then she told me something that made me even more proud of her. The pallet was covered with ice. She sat on that ice, which melted. That made her even colder. We started up the truck and sat there with it running while the heater warmed up. Then we pulled out our lunch. It was just a couple of sandwiches, but with the extreme cold, I'm sure we had burned a lot of calories. Then it happened. The heater got really warm, and we had eaten one sandwich each. I noticed my wife started getting teary-eyed. I asked her what was wrong. Nothing was wrong, she just commented on how wonderful it was sitting in the warm truck eating what tasted like the best sandwich she had ever eaten. She was so happy about it, that it brought tears to her eyes. Isn't that something — heat and a little food. We were very thankful in those moments. We really should be thankful for normal things more often. Too often we are only thankful when something extraordinary happens. First of all we should maintain an attitude of gratitude and be thankful. The Bible tells us to. The apostle Paul challenges us this way: "In everything give thanks; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you" (1 Thessalonians 5:18 NKJV). Years earlier, the psalmist had told us: "Enter into His gates with thanksgiving, And into His courts with praise. Be thankful to Him, and bless His name" (Psalm 100:4); and we should, "come before His presence with thanksgiving; Let us shout joyfully to Him with psalms" (Psalm 95:2).
Let's not wait until something super fantastic happens to be thankful. Let's be thankful for normal things. Oh, by the way, before you get upset or worried about us hunting — once again the animals were safe. We didn't get anything.
Title: "Thankful for Simple Things" Author: Mike Barres Publication Date: May 08, 2008 |
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Mike is a pastor and writer for a number of online publications.
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HEARTLIGHT® Magazine is produced by Heartlight, Inc. HEARTLIGHT is a registered service mark of Heartlight, Inc. Copyright © 1996-2007. Heartlight is supported by Westover Hills Church, Southern Hills Church, and loving Christians from around the world. Scripture quotations are taken from the Easy-to-Read Version copyright © 2001 by World Bible Translation Center. Used by permission. All rights reserved. |