Count your blessings

Merry Christmas Everyone!

Wow! It’s a few more days till the end of this year and I am feeling very grateful, especially at this time of year – Christmas.  My son says he’s been dreaming of Father Christmas every day since we entered December.  Somehow all he can think of are the presents he hopes to get.  I had to ask him if I would get a present and he replied “Grownups don’t get presents Mummy!” Can you imagine!

And while all the lights are coming out and there is general cheer in the air, there is also the need to reflect on the last twelve months and take stock. I’ve had a lot of conversations with various friends about this, and while most people still have a few items unchecked on their 2021 to do list, we all have reasons to be thankful and I’d like to share a few of mine.

I am so thankful that my daughter has stopped biting people! If you are privileged to be around babies and toddlers often, then you might be used to seeing all sorts; but if you’re like me, who waited to have my own before getting too close, then a lot of things might shock you in those early years.  I was so concerned when my little cute two-year old began biting people as a way of expressing herself.  I genuinely felt I had done something wrong and this situation was unique to us, as I had not heard of this before; Until I saw a similar situation in one of the medical dramas I watch.  While it was comforting to know I was not unique in this way, it was still an issue and we were really concerned about her going to nursery.  But God took care of the situation and it is now a thing of the past.

I am also thankful for being busy this year.  When you don’t have a regular 9-5, or you have to bring in your own clients, the pressure of work or finances can be pretty heavy.  I really do not like being bored. Technically I have not been idle since I became a parent, but there are times when you just want to do something different, something that does not require you to parent anybody… if you get what I mean.  I have been so busy planning and managing events this year, that I actually considered going on holiday! This is something I am truly thankful for because looking back, there’s no way I could have done any the things I did without the abundant grace of God being available.

I am thankful for being in good health.  I had some health challenges this year that seemed to come out of nowhere.  I had to be in hospital on two occasions this year (in covid times!) and God saw me through. Lurking issues that I had no way of knowing about came to light and got dealt with swiftly.  I can only thank the Almighty for being so merciful.

Now don’t assume I had a sweet calm year because I still have a few things on my 2021 list which I didn’t even get to, and others which I feel God just ignored – even though He’s not like that – but that’s how it feels; but sometimes when we focus on ‘… the ones yet unborn…’, we forget to celebrate the wonderful little everyday miracles around us.  I watched the film Miracles from Heaven for the third time last month, and it really hit me in a new way.  Yes, there was the major answer to prayer, the big one, the one everyone started to define them by; but that wasn’t when God turned up.  God was there from the very beginning, making the little things happen.

While my son has no intention of giving me a present yet, this Christmas season I am grateful for the gift of Jesus – it is His Birthday we are celebrating!  I’m not sure how your year has been or what your 2021 looks like, but if you can take a couple of minutes to really count your blessings, and name them one by one, you may be surprised at the many little and massive miracles you have experienced this year.  I have a few more hours of kitchen duty to go before Christmas day so Merry Christmas once again everyone and have an awesome new year!

Feeling jolly,