second three things

On day two, my thankfulness is different. But each day's gratitude must be related to my particular story, and my particular blessings.

#1 My brokenness. It hurts more some days than others (like today), but without it I would not have a chance at seeing my growth or progress. It's slow (to me) but steady, and occasionally I can see glimpses of the mosaic in the works. This one is also interesting to me because of the readings and the homily at Mass this morning. Everything is related, and without pain or sorrow or other unpleasantness, the true joy, the miracles, the wholeness are not as clear or obvious. Not as full. 

#2 Pray-ers. Mosaics require a considerable amount of sticky, messy, goopy stuff to make them hold together. When I can't mix it all in myself, I have friends I can ask to help me out. That's new to me, and I don't always remember to, but they are there for me -- and I for them.

#3 Pinterest. Yeah, I know; it doesn't exactly fit with the others, but today it was particularly helpful! I had a whole bunch of zucchini to do fun things with, but not so many ideas for what fun yumminess to do. (The reason is related to #1 above. Everything is related!) I made really delicious muffins, thanks to Pinterest, and found another I will use tomorrow, as well as a cucumber recipe to try. A win!

Even on a bad day, I remembered to look for the positives. That's a bit of growth in itself! In fact, in the middle of an internal stuggle that had me crying out to God while standing in the middle of my kitchen, I realized that I was, indeed, thankful for the struggle, as it gave me a chance to find in myself the tools I've learned I have and give them a try. It's a little crazy, but in the best way.