November Challenge - Giving Thanks - Day 13 - 15

I'm continuing my daily thankfulness posts:

Day 13, Thursday, November 13: I've been thinking about the gift of our five senses. They make life so much more enjoyable! Today, I'm grateful for the gift of smell. Think about how wonderful some fragrances are. This time of year I love to burn scented candles. I have so many favorite fragrances, it is hard to choose. I also love to smell fresh laundry, the smell of something baking in the oven, orange blossoms, honeysuckle, furniture polished with Pledge (particularly if someone else did the dusting!), roast in the crockpot when I get home from church, and I absolutely love the smell of a baby right after his bath. I could go on and on.

However, I can't forget to be grateful when I smell a bad smell, because that is a signal that something is wrong! That same baby that once smelled so delightful can also be saying, "Hey, I need help. Change me!" At one of my churches, we have a janitor that was in an accident years ago and has lost his sense of smell. Sometimes, when I get to the office in the morning, my nose will tell me something is wrong. He's never noticed the problem. I'll tell the janitor and we'll start searching. Sometimes it's a plumbing problem. Other times, we'll find that someone has not flushed a toilet, which is one of my pet peeves. My goodness! Do they do that at home? Okay, I digress.

My point is that the gift of smell, while being enjoyable, is also necessary, and I'm grateful God has given it to me.


Day 14, Friday, November 14: Fridays are always long days for me. My day at the church can be long because I must finish up anything that might be needed for the weekend. Then after work, I have the glorious task of being a hunter-gatherer for my family. (I'm talking about hunting for bargains and grocery shopping.) Do you realize how much groceries and supplies a family of five requires? This particular Friday was a cold and rainy day. We're not talking about a "misty rain" as my friend Wes always says, but a drenching rain that penetrates to the marrow of your bones. The kind of rain that soaks every nook and cranny of you and the groceries because though you have an umbrella, it cannot cover your cart of groceries.

After I slung all the wet bags into the trunk of my car, flicked off the rain that had dripped from the bags down my arms inside my sleeves, and started home, thankfulness was not really in my spirit. But then, I thought about how blessed I am that I CAN go shopping and get the things we need. I don't have to stand in line for hours to get a morsel of food like some have to do in other countries. (I know, sometimes we do have to stand in line at the check-out at Wal-Mart, but it's not for hours. It just feels like it.) So, yes I'm thankful for my local Super Wal-Mart!


Day 15, Saturday, November 15: Returning to my theme of being grateful for the five senses, today I choose to thank the Lord for the gift of sight. I probably use this gift more than any other! I'm a voracious reader, internet junkie, secretary, student of the Word -- why I even read the backs of cereal boxes and labels and license plates wherever I go. How could I do these things without my sight?

Thank you, Lord, for my eyes and help me keep them fixed on you!