Gratitude and God | A Thankfully Imperfect Woman

Apr 30

Be Thoughtful

I read this post this morning and could totally relate: The Perfect Gift

I too am a gift lover. I LOVE finding the perfect gift for everyone. I find such GREAT pleasure in finding something that reminds me of someone, buying it and tucking it away for a special occasion.

OK…those who know me well, know that I have a hard time waiting until that occasion. I tend to pull it out the next time I see you and say (all excited…bursting at the seams…smiling wide…almost (almost) jumping up and down excited) – “Look what I found for you!”

In the blog post above it talks about how much she loves to receive gifts too…and yes, I will admit it…I enjoy receiving too.

However,

As I’ve gotten older, I’ve come to realize that I’d much rather receive the gift of thoughtfulness…

To see my youngest text me while she’s on the bus on the way to the Twins game with her school group to say that she’s picked up treats for herself, Tim and I at our favorite goodie shop.

To hear my middle daughter’s excitement in the “surprise” gift she’s making for me (that she’s already put 12 hours into).

To see my oldest on Skype showing me the colors she’s chosen to use for an afghan she’s making me for Mother’s Day. (Asking my opinion because she didn’t like one of the colors.)

To get an email from my husband congratulating me on getting a readers comment published on More.com.

To get a text from my friend, the babies Momma asking if they can come for a visit.

To hear my business partners graciously accept my “retirement” and feel their friendship.

It’s the little things that matter…

A phone call from my Mother-in-law.

A stop from my Father-in-law…checking to see if I need anything.

My sister texting me a “hope your shoulder is healing well” note.

A girlfriend calling to see if I want to go for coffee.

An email from a sibling asking how I’m doing.

An encouraging card from a co-worker.

It truly is the gift of being thought of that is the most important “gift” to me…

These are the moments that remind me of just how truly blessed I am.

And when I say a little prayer of thanks to God.

Let’s all take a moment to be thoughtful towards someone else today.

And may we all be open to recognizing our blessings…

Have a wonderful day everyone!

Patty O

Thank you Paying It Forward – One Day at a Time for the image.

Apr 21

11 Comments

An Incredible Compliment

Samantha gave me an incredible compliment the other day.

She told me the following story:

“At Bible Study last night, we were talking about suffering and how difficult it is to Glorify God through it, and then the leader asked us if we had ever been able to do that or if we knew anybody who had been able to.”

“And Mom, I thought of you.” Read more

Apr 18

8 Comments

Prayers, Gabi Sees Yoda, and I’m Hibernating…

I was having a hard time deciding what to write about today.

Obviously you can see I decided not to choose, but rather to go with all three subjects.

A serious subject, a fun subject and a couch with your favorite blanket and old movies kind of day subject.

First, in all seriousness… Read more

Apr 16

1 Comment

God Bless the Heroes

After the events of yesterday in Boston, I couldn’t help but think of one of my favorite episodes on the tv show “West Wing” in which President Bartlett gave the following speech:

“We did not seek, nor did we provoke an assault on our freedom and our way of life.

We did not expect nor did we invite a confrontation with evil.

Yet the true measure of a people’s strength is how they rise to master that moment when it does arrive. Read more

Apr 15

5 Comments

Prayers for Carena, Prayers for Boston, Prayers for our World

A few days ago I wrote a blog post asking for everyone to Please Pray for Little Miss Carena.

In the days since I wrote the post, this little girl has gotten better, then went downhill, and is now in a holding pattern. She’s one tough little girl but her neck where they took the lymph nodes is infected and they think it might be abcessed. They’re treating her with a couple of different i.v. antibiotics but if they don’t kick it by tomorrow morning, they’ll have to go back in.

Please, please say more prayers for this little one.

And then this afternoon we see the news of the bombings in Boston. At this point there have been two fatalities and over 110 injured. Two bombs exploded while two others were found and taken care of without further injuries. (Added on 4/19: Obviously I made the mistake of watching CNN news. This information later appeared to be false – there were no other bombs found. The fatality rate is now up to 3 with the injuries over 140.) Read more