It isn’t always easy to be grateful. When I’m so tired of looking at houses and fearing we’ll be stuck in this small space forever. When the dishes and laundry spill over and fill our home. When the hours of the day are filled with the urgent and I never seem to get to the important.

My son loves to look at the world upside down, actually all my kids did this as babies, but they haven’t ever fully outgrown the tendency to look at the world from a different angle.

Instead of seeing the too small house, I can see the place that keeps us warm now that the nights grow colder. The abundance of dishes and laundry represent a family fed and clothed. The busy hours of the day are filled with the necessary things to run my home, as frustrating as they may be.

There is always another side, a gratitude side we can focus on. Not in a wishy washy denial of our difficulties or a fake attempt at a brave face. But acknowledging the reality of our difficulties and still choosing joy and thanksgiving.

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