Well, with the sudden order to sit more and do less, I find myself finding reading materials from all over. While Judah naps, I drink in different books. Well after a year of receiving a gift of my grandpa's book of his life, I finally find myself with TIME to read it. What a gift his story is!
While reading about Grandpa's young life, I found myself feeling so blessed about what I have in my life. I have electricity in my house. I have running water. I have a toilet in my heated bathroom -- with all the toilet paper that I ever want to use (within reason!). I have more than enough food in my kitchen, with a lot of leftovers that go bad before we eat them. I have a constant connection to the world -- internet (most important!) and television. These are all things that we take for granted.
I was shocked the most at the condition of the house that Grandpa grew up in. No heat. None. (Except the wood stove in the kitchen.) On a day when I am writing and it is 16 degrees outside with a cold cold wind that bitterly swipes at your skin, it makes me so grateful for an overly warm house. It makes me run to the thermostat and turn it down and find a nice sweater to wear. Instead of sheetrock or plaster on the walls, the builder stretched cheesecloth over the 2x4s and put wallpaper over that. Can you imagine this wind coming into a house like that? Oh, the complaining that we would all do!!
I write this today to not only document my own thoughts about how blessed I am, but to encourage you to look around and see how truly blessed you are as well. We have SO MUCH that they didn't have in the 40s and 50s, during the depression and World War II. Even in the midst of a recession and hard times, we have it much better than my great-grandparents did in their early marriage.
I look to God and thank Him for blessing me in so many ways. I hope you do the same, just for one moment today. Slow down, look around you and take in the wonderful blessings that you have.
I'm off now to turn my heat down a bit and get a fleece pullover to wear.
I leave you with a fantastic picture of Judah playing with a flashlight. He thought it was pretty fun to be in the dark hallway and watch the light on the walls.
2 comments:
You're right, we often take for granted things that past generations would have considered luxuries, like heating the whole house, electricity and indoor plumbing. Even today people around the world still don't have adequate drinking water! As Americans, we are truly rich and blessed compared to many parts of the world.
I like your blog's new layout. Nice picture of Judah! I hope your time of rest is truly restful!
Hi, Dana.
I enjoyed your comments about how blessed we are. I agree. Eric remembers our time at Soldier living in the stone house, where we had a wood stove for cooking and another stove for heating the dining room. The bedrooms were unheated and got really cold in the winter. I remember one night when Elan was about 6 months old; the temperature was zero in the bedroom. But we were blessed to hae electricity, which meant we could have a refrigerator. Where my Mom grew up in Wabaunsee County (with no electricity), the frig was the cool spring flowing out of the hillside.
Grandpa
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