Dirty Dishes and More

I have mentioned before that I am working on the book 30 Days Change Your Habits Change Your Life by Marc Reklau.

Chapter 36 talks about gratitude. As I made the list of all the things I am grateful for (and I am sure I have missed many more), a poem came to mind. I do not recall the exact wording, nor I recall the author, but the gist of the poem was so:

be grateful for dirty dishes, because it means you had food to eat
be grateful for dirty clothes, because it means you had clothes to wear
be grateful for dirty sheets and a bed to make, because it means you did not have to sleep on the streets
be grateful for having to get up early and go to work, because it means you have a way to support yourself
be grateful for a messy house, because it means there are people living in it and you have a roof over your head

I do not remember the rest, if there was a rest, and I cannot guarantee that this is one single poem and not a mix of different ones. But the bottom line is that we should be grateful for all we have, even housework.

I try to be grateful every day, but many times I find myself being grateful only for the things I like and complain instead for others (like being interrupted while I am doing something else). What I don't realize, and I am going to try to remedy that, is that even those things that I don't like have a purpose in life.
Being interrupted means I have either family or friends who care to talk with me or need me. If they need me, it is an opportunity to serve. And I know that when I serve them, whatever I do, is as if I am serving the Lord (Matthew 25:40).

I feel like I am looking at an attitude of gratitude for the first time in my life. I don't know about you, but I am going to do my best to be grateful for all things that I have or happen, even the unpleasantness of some, on this journey we call life.