Blessings Everyday

These are some of the pansies I have out on my back deck.  It has been so cold the past couple of weeks that they've been flat and hanging over the pots like they were dead if it were not for their beautiful green color.  When the snow flurries started coming down this afternoon, I decided it was time to bring them in and thaw them out for a while.  So I went out, worked them loose from the ice that had formed between the  pots and the deck, brought them in and set them by the fire.  I've been doctoring them all day .. warm water to melt the frozen soil, lots of fluffing and now they are all vacationing in my tub.  Yes, Richard wonders what goes on in my mind many a days, but he never says a word.  I think it is almost amusing to have gigantic pots of yellow pansies in our garden tub and he is without comment ... as if it is perfectly normal to walk in your bathroom and see potted flowers in your tub.  Maybe it's not, but maybe unusual sightings are the norm in this house.  Just maybe:).

But the real reason I write this post, is because I will remember this cold night for a long while.  The weather is bad and the roads are all iced.  Lights from police cars can still be seen through the woods behind our house.  The hills are all frozen and not able to be traveled.  Police are manning posts throught out our neighborhoods making sure no one attempts them, and making sure everyone is safe.  Richard left work early today so he could come home and change and head out to find me a Christmas present.  (yes, he obviously read my wish list post.)  Hanson Ellis had a Christmas party with our church youth group tonight, so we were expecting him home by a certain time.  Right about that time I received word that the party had been cancelled due to icy roads and while I was reading that email, Parker, who was looking out the window rather than sweeping the kitchen floor, told me she saw some police cars.   Of course I instantly hoped Richard had not been in a wreck on the icy hills.  I tried to call him, but I heard his phone in our room.  So for the next 2 hours I was quite anxious.  He ended up walking through the front door okay.  I was so glad to see him home.

There are so many wants and desires and longings in every day.  And it is all too easy to get caught up in their being unfulfilled that we overlook or brush aside all the many very generous blessings that God so graciously gives us.  Life is such a gift.  Life, yes life.  Life, that thing that wears us out, causes us to loose our patience and many times brings us to our knees.  Yet that same life ... the cleaning, cooking, hair washing, teeth brushing, bill paying, grocery shopping ... brings us so much joy and if we were without any of our basic daily blessings ... legs to get up out of bed with in the morning, eyes to read God's word, hands to prepare food for those we love and arms to scoop up little ones that are right under our feet ... if we were without any of these blessings (and more), we'd miss them instantly and realize how valuable they were, and yet how little we treasured the gift of them.

I am thankful, so thankful that Richard returned home safe and sound tonight.  And I am thankful of the reminder of the blessing he is to me and of the many overlooked blessings God gives me every day.