Good Things
Posted on: August 25, 2014
- In: Everyday Life | Faith | Family | Parenting
- 1 Comment
A quote print from Ferris Bueller’s Day Off (spotted on http://www.chapters.indigo.ca)
For almost a month, I’ve been keeping a journal where I list three good things each day. Not in the Martha Stewart sense of “It’s a good thing,” but in the sense of small blessings that I took the time to notice.
And I’ve found my definition of “good” encompasses some simple things:
- getting the recycling and yard waste to the curb in time for pick-up (with the paper bags intact)
- noticing a hot spot on my dog before it was large and getting her to the vet before the long weekend
- serving a meal where my son actually ate some beef and unpeeled cucumber slices
- arriving at church before the announcements started
- getting shrubs planted just before it started raining
- spotting a toad in the garden while weeding
- finishing back-to-school shopping in just a couple of hours
As we head back to school, back to work, and back to routines, time can slip by so quickly that one day in this short life seems to blur into the next, and we stop noticing the good things—and stop thanking God for them.
We complain about having to supervise homework but overlook the fact that our children like their teachers or are doing better in math this year. We dislike having to be out the door for early-morning practices without thinking that it’s because our son or daughter had the skills to earn a spot on the varsity team. Or we long for the house to be quiet at the end of the day but don’t consider that it’s noisy because our teens have made some good friends and feel comfortable inviting them over to work on projects—or that maybe those friends need a welcoming place to go after school.
Before we prepare our young ones to start kindergarten, send our youth off to university or college, or start packing those first-day-of-school lunches, I pray that we would make a habit of taking a minute each day to notice the little blessings in our lives and praise God for the way he loves and cares for us.
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1 Response to "Good Things"
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A Catholic Convert in Ottawa 
August 25, 2014 at 5:21 pm
It’s an important discipline isn’t it? I try to remember that being grateful is really about becoming more aware of the truth that God is just pouring blessings out on us all the time.