Thanksgiving and Counting it All Joy

I started out yesterday with one goal in mind: cleaning out our playroom.  This was step one in my three part plan to reorganize and de-clutter our house by Thanksgiving Day. Well, life barged in and upset my plans.  Extra music rehearsals; dual-credit classes that don't take all week off for Thanksgiving; orthodontist appointments; sick children; a doctor visit and course of antibiotics for yours truly; and then, our quick "who doesn't need to dash to the grocery on the week of Thanksgiving" trip to the store...a "quick trip" that ended up involving  massive amounts of smoke ( well, steam I am told...but it looked like smoke to me!) coming from under the hood of our van and a parking lot streaming with bright green fluid. Oh, my.

Thanksgiving was on my mind as I sat in the parking lot, and it hit me that any run-of-the-mill pagan can be thankful when things are running like a well-oiled machine. There is no special grace in thanking God on a day when you feel just fine.  The grace is evident when He fills us up so much that we can count it all joy and breathe each breath with a thankful trust that He is working all things for our good. Thankfulness is really lived out  when our days ooze with peaceful surrender, and we march on like joyful little lumps of clay in the Master's hand....when things turn out "right" and when things don't.

My day turned out fine in the end. God reminded me to mentally turn my day over to Him and know that what He wanted accomplished in that day was far more important than what I had set out to do. And, yes, of course, there were a million little blessings along the way in the midst of it all: a mother in law who was just a phone call away ( even though her phone battery was technically dead), my husband's last minute change of plans involving a scheduled trip out of state, a husband who can fix cars, the kind army of elderly men who  kindly delighted in helping us in our predicament ( senior day at the grocery!),  being stranded at the grocery store at lunch time ( no hungry kids!), a stack of books in the car to keep little ones occupied, church and extended family that was geographically close enough to help us get to where we needed to be the rest of the day. God is good to us, isn't He?  I hope you have a lovely Thanksgiving Day remembering all the ways He has blessed you in the midst of all life's circumstances!