Small things are worthy of great gratitude. I know this. You know this. Every parent raising a child with special needs knows this. Even so, I consistently ignore the small blessings God does provide and fixate on the big things I think He should provide.
Are you with me on this? Are you having a hard time coming up with much to be grateful for this Thanksgiving? If you are, I invite you to join in a new holiday tradition.
I call it thinking small.
Instead of wracking your brain for the big things God did for you and your loved ones in the past year, make a list of small things. It took me less than 5 minutes to come up with 10 small things I'm grateful for this Thanksgiving.
Photo credit: Chex.com
Here they are.
Mom's Fabulous Franklin Chex Mix recipe. It is so good!
Grandma Conrad's Never-Fail Pie Crust recipe. It's the only pie crust recipe that works every time. And it's the foundation of pie, my favorite dessert.
The smell of onions and celery being sautéed for stuffing on Thanksgiving morning. I don't like stuffing, but I LOVE that smell.
My mom is 91 and will be with us for the holiday. How many 63-year-olds have their mothers with them on Thanksgiving?
My son is 37 and won't be with us on Thanksgiving because he and his wife are spending the weekend with his older cousin. I could moan and groan that he'll be gone. Instead I'm grateful my son is alive and independent. In a different day and age, we would have lost him at birth.
The card game Uno. We'll be playing it on Thanksgiving because my mother, my 4-year-old grandson, and everyone in between can play it. How many games are there like that?
A warm house. Having a home is a big thing, but I take mine for granted. I complain about the lack of storage space. And yet, our modest home would seem like a palace to millions, even billions of people in our world today. It's on my list of small things to remind me to be grateful.
I receive hugs from 2 of my grandchildren every day. Their little arms around my neck are the biggest small things in my life, and they are possible because our daughter, son-in-law, and their children live with us in our warm house.
The beautiful view outside our windows. No kidding, the view of trees and pasture from every window in our house is so lovely we don't have curtains. And our neighbors live far enough away we don't need them.
My family is a loving one. Not just my immediate family, but my extended family too. Only my sister and brother know what it was like to grow up caring for our disabled father. Only my children know what it took for us to survive and thrive as a special needs family. We know that love is hard work. All these things we know because of our loved ones' disabilities and special needs.
Now it's your turn to think small.
Close your eyes and reflect for a few minutes. Not on the big things. But on the small ones that burrow into your heart and lead to gratitude. There's nothing too small if it makes you happy, brings you joy, or has shaped you into the person you are today. If you want, you join this new Thanksgiving tradition and share them in the comment box below. Thinking small is a way to be grateful in a very big way because small things are worthy of great gratitude.
For who has despised the day of small things?
Zechariah 4:10 (NASB)
Jolene Philo is the author of the Different Dream series for parents of kids with special needs. She speaks at parenting and special needs conferences around the country. She's also the creator and host of the Different Dream website. Sharing Love Abundantly With Special Needs Families: The 5 Love Languages® for Parents Raising Children with Disabilities, which she co-authored with Dr. Gary Chapman, was released in August of 2019 and is available at local bookstores, their bookstore website, and at Amazon.
