i am thankful

{found via pinterest}

i haven't had a chance to write as much lately. there are a whole host of reasons for that, but suffice it to say i miss it enough to change around my entire daily schedule to try to fit in more of it. and while a potential [and right now, actual] lack of sleep seems like a lot to give up when you have small children who wear you out from day to day, it's also worth it in my mind so i can process what is happening in my world.

right now i am mostly thankful. i am thankful for this time to spend with Jesus in the morning. i am thankful for this time to put my thoughts down on the page. i am thankful for my children who fill me up and empty me out daily. i am beyond thankful for my husband who has made my world, and my relationships, and myself better for the past 12 ½ years. i am grateful to him for getting up and going to work every day to support us. grateful that he helps me make changes that i am too scared to make on my own. grateful that he supports me the vast majority of the time, and gives me a swift kick to the rear when i need it [because let's face it, we all need it sometimes].

i am thankful for my family. my little family, and my great big extended one. i am thankful for the roof over my head, and the souls that live under it. i am thankful for the bed i have to sleep in, and the food which i have to eat. i am thankful for the daily provision God provides for us. i am thankful for the body that i've been given, and the enjoyment i get from exercise. i am thankful for running and yoga and meditation. i am thankful for moments to breathe deeply. 

i am thankful for coffee. i am thankful for friendships. i am thankful for the life that i have been given. i am beyond grateful for the grace that finds me every day, and for God's mercies that are new every morning. 

and though i don't always think it, or say it, i am thankful for the times of struggle that have made me strong. i am thankful for growth even if it means i have growing pains. i am thankful for the times between the photographs that have brought us from one happy snapshot to the next. i am grateful for the times when God has calmed the storm, and thankful for the times he has calmed the child. 

more than anything the struggles and the scars build character; they reveal who we are underneath it all. like molten glass we find our shape when we are put through the furnace. the furnace hurts. it changes us. it makes us strong and fragile all at once. but through it we are shaped by our maker. 

today i am choosing to be thankful. i have much for which to give thanks. often i get bogged down by small first-world problems. i get really upset by insignificant inconveniences. today i want to be thankful. i want to live inside the grace i've been given.

what are you thankful for today?

xo