thankful

At my old job, my office was on the first floor of the building and it was right by the ramp to one of the loading docks, my view was of the Emergency Room parking lot – not the most uplifting of places. Because of my location, the “money truck” for the atm machine, the Pepsi guy and the Puritan Springs water man would all back up their trucks to my window and, while unloading, leave them running. On nice days, that meant that I sucked in fumes all day long if I opened my window. The people I saw out my window were never happy people, many I watched as they chain smoked in the parking lot while waiting for service in the ED or waiting to hear the status of hurt and sick loved ones.

In my new office, I am on the 5th floor and, my hospital, is located on a residential street. I look out over a playground (where we watch the children swing furiously all afternoon) and houses and what is known as church corner due to the existence of four churches intersecting at one junction. I can see the green yards of the Victorian homes around the property, the budding trees, the church spires poke through the freshly grown tree leaves and the sky is big and blue…I often take for granted this serene scene…I often take for granted many, many things. As we close this Easter week I pray for the gift of being more thankful, for being more attuned to what we have and how we have been blessed.

I find amazing blessings everyday and I am too quick to pass them over and not really say “thank you” for them. I am so amazed how much God blesses us when we bless others with our time, gifts, talents or financial resources. C has told our church before that we used to tithe randomly, never very much and quite sporadically. It wasn’t until we got serious about tithing that God really began to bless us – and not just in the monetary sense. To who much is given, much is expected and we believe that, whole heartedly. In my thinking, it is the first priority, to give what isn’t mine, back. I am thankful that I am to the place where I feel a joy about giving.

We wind down the rest of the week with a community wide Good Friday service that C is preaching for and then we are off on Saturday and I think we will spend some time awakening the yard for spring. We bought flowers last night – pansies – I can’t think of a happier or friendlier flower. We also bought some new patio chairs and a table for the front of our house and we christened them last night in the dark, with cool glasses of drinks, by the light of a candle…it was a good moment together, one that I am thankful for.