Daily Blessings

Today's Joy Dare asks for "a gift in your hand, a gift you walked by, a gift you sat with."

A gift that was in my hand but is now in my stomach was the BLT sandwich I had for supper.  (Funny story: I made our lunches this morning--the sandwiches, oranges and carrots, and cookies--and packed them in a bag which I put in the fridge while we ate breakfast.  I left myself a note by the door to remember the bag.  Well, it wasn't till we were at school that I realized I'd forgotten it, and it's a 20-minute walk back.  Joshua wasn't mad, and I managed to laugh at myself--but I was really hungry by the time I got home!)
Another gift that's more on my hand than in it is my wedding/engagement rings.  They're not very fancy but I think they're beautiful, and they're a constant reminder of the promise I made to my husband and he to me.

I walked by a lot of gifts on the way home this evening--houses with Christmas lights still lit, rosebushes that I know will bloom come spring, a lamp turning on in someone's dark window, a cat sitting on a porch, a custodian in a building on campus doing his nightly cleaning.

All of the people I sat with in classes today are gifts: Ruth.  Sara.  Joshua.  I'm blessed with some wonderful professors, classmates whom I like and respect, my two best girlfriends here in classes with me, and my husband in three of my five classes this semester!


These are all gifts that I encounter every day (except for the BLT; those are a rare treat!).  They, among many, many other things, are gifts that I tend to take for granted: the people around me, the things I walk past, other things that are ordinary, everyday.  But that doesn't make them any less wonderful than the other things God gives me.  Friends, family, food--all these are some of the most important and precious blessings in our lives, yet it is so easy to overlook them.  I hope that I can become aware of and thankful for them every day, not just today.