Giving Thanks {even when it's messy}



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I saw this picture a few weeks ago on Pinterest, and it got me thinking.  Should I really be thankful for dirty dishes?  They are like the laundry, a constant in my life and in my world.  But if we take a minute and really think about what dirty dishes and laundry mean, it can change our perspective entirely.

Dirty dishes in fact mean that we are eating.  That we have made breakfast or dinner.  That we have something to serve ourselves or our families.  Sure they pile up in and around the sink.  If they sit too long they smell and sometimes require superhuman strength to scrub.  In the end though, a sink full of dishes means that we are fed. 

Laundry, which is literally a daily constant, means that we have clothes to wear.  More than one shirt for our backs.  How many can truly say that?  Piles of towels and PJ's, tutu skirts, and skinny jeans represent more than a procrastinating housewife.  They are symbols that we have something to wear, some place to be. 

Toys all over the floor means that I have children.  And that those children play.  I'm very thankful for that.  Sure I hate to step on Barbie shoes, blocks, or crayons, but all of those things mean that my girls are playing.  They are happy and enjoying a great blessing of toys, many of which I didn't buy.  My messy living room is proof that life is happening here.

I was thinking about all of that and more, when I came across this pin,

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Could we really be thankful for taxes?  If it means we have a job, then yes.  What about that far parking space at Target.  When you just need one thing?  Well we can be thankful that most of us can walk, a few extra spaces or two.  What got me the most was the alarm going off, because it means we are alive.  How many of us curse our alarm clocks?  But if it means we are alive, that's a different story. 

This Thanksgiving I'm going to be thankful for the messy, the inconvenient, and the annoying.  Darn you dirty dishes, scattered toys, and alarm clocks.  Darn that last parking place at Target on Black Friday.  I'm going to be thankful for you, despite you.  Because I have kids who relish the joys of messy living rooms.  I have laundry that never ends.  Because last nights dishes are still sitting in the sink.  All proof that we are embracing this life. 

Happy Blogging,

Megan