Over the summer months our air conditioning was out most of a week. We needed to get someone on it right away but it didn’t happen because of other circumstance. I was always very grateful for air conditioning as I live in the southern tip of Alabama where it is so oppressively hot during the summer but this experience magnified that gratefulness tenfold. After our house finally cooled off with a visit from an A/C Tech, I knew I would always be grateful for all modern conveniences and technology, but what about other aspects of our life?
There are so many things to be grateful for this Thanksgiving season. These statistics from the internet might help to put your life in perspective:
“If you have food in the refrigerator, clothes on your back, a roof overhead and a place to sleep, you are richer than 75% of this world.
If you woke up this morning with more health than illness, you are more blessed than the millions who will not survive this week.
If you have money in the bank, in your wallet and spare change in a dish someplace, you are among the top 8% of the worlds’ wealthy.
If you can attend a church meeting without fear of harassment, arrest, torture, or death you are more blessed than three billion people in the world.
If you have never experienced the danger of battle, the loneliness of imprisonment, the agony of torture, or the pangs of starvation, you are ahead of 500 million people in the world.
If your parents are still alive and still married, you are very rare, even in the United States.
If you can hold someone’s hand, hug them, or even touch them on the shoulder, you are blessed because you can offer a healing touch.
If you hold up your head with a smile on your face and are truly thankful, you are blessed because the majority can, but most do not.”
It was President Thomas Monson from The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints who said this: “A grateful heart then comes through expressing gratitude to our Heavenly Father for His blessings and to those around us for all that they bring into our lives.”
To read more of Valerie’s articles, click here.
Next week is the week of Thanksgiving and as I look around my home and family I’m reminded what I am truly thankful for in my life. I need to remember this all year round. Besides being grateful for air conditioning, I live in my own home in a nice neighborhood, drive a “paid-for” car and live a healthy, active life. My children are doing much good in the world; and keep active with school, work and church activity. I have food on the table, money in the bank and extended family I can count on any time. I am truly blessed and grateful for what I have. Think of what you are thankful for all this week and tell your family and friends you love them.
Valerie Steimle has been writing as a family advocate for over 25 years. As a convert to The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, she promotes Christian living in her writings and is the mother of nine children and grandmother to twelve. Mrs. Steimle authored six books and is a contributing writer to several online websites. To her, time is the most precious commodity we have and knows we should spend it wisely.
To read more of Valerie's work, visit her at her website, The Blessings of Family Life.
