Ponder this:

Tuesday, December 23, 2014

This Christmas

This Christmas season, I'm suddenly aware of the sumptuous luxury that surrounds me. I go through my days, month after month, not really taking note of the random comforts in my world, but I notice now. And once I begin to notice, I can't stop noticing.

I'm grateful for Husband, who works energetically, tirelessly and mostly cheerfully, to improve our home and make it more efficient and warmer in the cold season and fruitful in the warm season.
I'm thankful for my two fuzzy girls, Molly and Peep. Best of friends to each other and to us, each day they reveal another Incredibly Cute Pose or a new facet of personality. When I think of what might have happened to Peep, had a sheriff's deputy not found her sitting quietly by the side of the road . . . or how lucky we are to have been granted the gift of Molly, who was living a thousand miles away, waiting for someone to want her . . . they both seem like meant-to-be miracles.
I live where, on my way home at night, I don't have to battle traffic, or wait for traffic lights to change. Sometimes I need to decrease my already slow speed to let a couple of deer get all the way across the road so I can pass. That isn't a hardship. It's a pleasure. They're pretty and fit and healthy and graceful . . . like smooth sculpture moving from woody roadside to woody roadside.
I live on land that we almost had to sell in financial desperation, but we made it through.
I live in a house that we weren't sure we would ever be able to build, but we did.
I look through windows taller than I am, at fields as large as the beloved fields of my lost childhood home. The trees that wave their tips in the way-up-there-wind are as tall and as forever as the trees I watched at age seven from my bedroom window or from a seat on a stone wall built by my ancestors' hands in seventeen-hundred-something. My skies are wide and changeable, glowing blue and white or orange and that magic pink-gold of sunset . . . and even now, when day after day, the sky is one smooth blanket of pale pale gray-white cotton, it is more beautiful to me than any skyline filled with buildings and rooflines.
I have a job where everyone is friendly with everyone else. That wasn't the case until only a few months ago: more evidence that my world is moving in a good direction. Our group now jokes and laughs together, works together to solve problems that often aren't even really problems but only quirks. The new philosophy is that if whatever seems to be awry is not fixed within the next two hours, no one will die. Truly, a change for the better for all of us. Thank God.
I have a vehicle that gets me where I want to go, the means to buy things that I need and want. I have enough leisure to knit, to nap, to read. I have warmth and light and comfortable and suitable clothing. 

How blessed am I with all this.
Even if I wish for sun in my eyes in the mornings, and even if it feels like bedtime every day when I get home from work in the deep dusk of December . . . I am blessed.
And I am grateful. 

I think that I might be growing more and more pagan as I age, but still, the Christmas season is a good time to count our gifts. These are some of mine.

And I am grateful.

31 comments:

DJan said...

How wonderful to read this list. I remember when you got your furry family members, and I'm so glad they bring such joy to your life, and to mine. I am also fortunate not to have to go into a job any more, but I sure hear you about the long nights and short days. That will change, though, now that we are past the solstice, the days are lengthening. Today's day is 8 seconds longer than yesterday's! :-)

Jacqueline Donnelly said...

You possess the most wonderful gift of all, the gift of a grateful heart. Such a lovely post, it brought me much delight. Thank you, and have a wonderful Christmas season.

Linda Myers said...

This is a lovely post. I have the same feeling of profound gratitude. And the pagan in me rejoices at the solstice.

C-ingspots said...

You are rich with blessings indeed! And all the better is that you realize them, and are thankful. I appreciate your thoughts, and by reading them, they have brought me peace and a sense of calm, because I have been reminded that I too, am blessed and content. Merry Christmas!

Tom said...

Thank you so much for reminding us to count our blessings, esp. at this time of year.

Olga said...

Even us pagans benefit by counting blessings.

Joe Todd said...

Really nice to hear from you.. I would say you have an attitude of gratitude... Wishing you the very best..

#1Nana said...

Your post resonated with me. I know that the more I focus on what is good in my life, the more I have to be grateful for. Merry Christmas, and best wishes for a new year of gratitude!

Betsy Banks Adams said...

Merry Christmas to you and yours, June... YES---this is definitely a time to count our many blessings....

Hugs,
Betsy

VioletSky said...

I find as I get older I am more and and more grateful and satisfied with what I have. I have my cup of tea and will think on it all as I read back through your posts that I seem to have missed.
Merry Christmas to you

Joe Todd said...

Good morning June.. Answer to where in U.S.A....Ashland - The Henry Clay Estate120 Sycamore Road, Lexington, KY 40502

June said...

Joe, what a place! I'd live like a hobbit in one of the icehouses!

Vicki Lane said...

We are so lucky. And I'm thankful for a blog friend like you, June! May your new year be full of joy!

rachel said...

A lovely post, June, and one that resonates deeply with us. We have a card pinned up that reads "Start each day with a grateful heart" - an essential reminder at times when we are full of petty complaints and small miseries. The dog is a great reminder too - she lives entirely in the moment, and finds joy in such small things; it's impossible to be grouchy for long in her life-affirming company.

fiftyodd said...

I am grateful for my husband's large extended family - there is always someone wanting to come visit.

Rose ~ from Oz said...

Lots of blessings here June, and it would do many more people good to stop and be calm and count theirs as well.
A truly thought provoking post and I trust you and yours and the furry ones enjoyed a blessed Christmas - with all its blessings.
x

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