I Have Been Given Much (1-10)

Gratitude unlocks the fullness of life. It turns what we have into enough, and more. It turns denial into acceptance, chaos to order, confusion to clarity. It can turn a meal into a feast, a house into a home, a stranger into a friend.
Melody Beattie

I've been meaning to bring some balance to my life and to this blog.  Because the truth of things is, I am blessed.  It's easier for me to write about my struggles and my darker hours, for some reason things just seem to flow for me (as far as writing) when I feel sad or depressed.  But my life is not all sadness and gloom and doom.  I want to write about the happy things and the blessings in my life, just as much as I want to write about all the other things, I just don't feel like I do it nearly as well as I complain.  

My sister sent out a gratitude challenge and I just knew it was a great opportunity for me to do some positive writing.  I've really been acutely aware lately of just how blessed a life I live and gratitude has been on my mind more often than not these last few weeks, so I'm very excited to share my thoughts and gratitude for all that I have.  

Challenge One:  Write 10 physical abilities you are grateful for.

• Creating and carrying children.

Ironically enough I've entered into my third trimester this week and things are starting to get hard.  Sitting hurts, standing hurts, bending over is an excruciating experience.  Sleeping at nights is hard, even when I'm exhausted.   Things are starting to feel squished.  I wonder how I'm going to make it another 12 weeks.  And yet the very first thing that popped into my mind when I read today's challenge was how much I love being a woman and how I cherish being able to carry children.  I am eternally grateful for the ability to be a mother, for the blessing of feeling a little life move around inside of me.  Being sick and tired and grouchy and uncomfortable is such a small price to pay for being allowed to create a body for one of Gods precious souls.   My soul delights in each kick  and elbow thrown.  I know that God created these little spirits and that they really are His, but It's amazing to me that he gives me a small part in letting me create a body for them and that he fills my soul full of love for them.  I know so many more worthy woman who haven't been blessed with the ability to create or carry a child in this life.  I know it's a blessing and a privilege.  If I were blessed with better parenting skills limitless patience and a perfect love like God's and we had unlimited income potential, I'd choose to have babies over and over again.  

• 5 senses

I love the fact that I am a healthy person who has the ability to see, hear, smell, taste and touch all the wonderful things that surround me.

• Working hands.

My hands can work wonders sometimes.  From crocheting, to sewing, to cooking or cleaning.  I love that I have able hands to get the job done.  I love that I have hands to hug and soothe and touch any one who might be in need.  I love that I have hands to help me plant and pick a garden. 

• Sing

I'm not very good at it any more but I do like to sing.  It is a release for me whether I be happy or sad.

• Laugh

I don't do it as much as I should, but there is something very real and very magical about the ability to laugh and find joy.  I was once famous for my loud laugh.  Sometimes I wonder when I got so serious, when I forgot how to laugh.  It only takes those rare moments where I laugh in spite of all my seriousness, for me to remember what a blessing laughter is. 

• Love

I am in no means a saint, and I mess up all the time, but I have always appreciated the ability I have to find love.  Maybe it makes me desperate or delusional, and maybe I see love where there isn't any.  But I see love no matter where I look.  I can't stay mad at any one or anything for long because somewhere in my soul I see the love we all have being given, and share with each other. 

• Cry

I am a leaky faucet.  I cry more than anyone I know.  But crying for me is a great blessing and a great relief.  Sometimes the only thing that helps me to move on is just crying it all out.  

• Recreate

Creativity has never been a strong suit for me.  I am no good at conjuring up ideas on my own or making something out of nothing.  But I do have the ability to take something someone else has created and I can replicate it.  I can draw almost anything if I have a picture in front of me.  I can crochet something without a pattern if I can just see it.  If I can see it, I can visually dissect it and then recreate it myself .

• Random Facts

I have an uncanny ability to remember random facts.  Things that are important slip from my mind all the time, but if it's totally useless and unimportant it's stuck in my brain forever!  It does on occasion make me look and feel totally intelligent when one of my useless facts comes bubbling out and people look at me with awe for knowing the answer.  

• Empathy

I don't know if I was born with empathy or I learned it after my childhood.  There were and are many times in my life where I wish people could see and understand each other better.  Maybe it's because I believed most my life I failed everyone I loved and I desperately wished they could see beyond my imperfections, my sins, my mistakes and my failure.  I wanted to be heard and understood.  So I try (and yes I fail many times too) to be empathetic, I try to walk in others shoes.  I try to feel as they do before I pass judgement or act rashly towards them.