Stop and smell the roses. — Old Proverb

It’s easy to think our lives are so drab and hard and boring and nothing beautiful or miraculous ever happens to us. It’s always happening to someone else. What’s with that? Does God love them more or something?

Or are we just ungrateful.

Something I have learned so much about since being married to my husband is thankfulness. He can be having a day where everything is going wrong, and in the midst of telling me how awful it is, he will bring up how it’s okay because it affords him an opportunity to be doing such-and-such, which he wouldn’t be doing today if everything else wasn’t at a standstill, and so forth. He has this attitude so constantly; about people who let him down, business issues that don’t pan out, projects that are taking too long. And I hear many people speak of my husband as if he is simply lucky– everything just happens for him!

But no. I see him work his butt off every day, and I wonder how it is he keeps going and doesn’t get depressed, and I know what his secret is; he is thankful, and that thankfulness enables him to have an extra arsenal of grace.

Being thankful is the opposite of being fearful. When we are fearful, we’re not looking at what we have, but rather at what we don’t have and think we desperately need in order to have peace of mind. When we have fear, we rob ourselves of so much joy that God is placing right in front of us with those everyday provisions he has already made for us. It is foolish to lay trembling with fright and frustration, begging God for a huge miracle of salvation, and refuse to see the tiny, perfect opportunities that are already there, no matter how desperate we feel.

If we are staring off into the distance hoping for God to do all the work, we will never recognize and grasp those beautiful miracles. He who is faithful in little things shall be made ruler over many. How can we expect something gigantic if we don’t appreciate and thank him for all things small?