Gratitude

It's ironic, but gratitude seems to be one of the first things we let go of when things are going well. Maybe it's just me. . .so I'll change this to the first person singular. When things go well for a while, I tend to replace "gratitude" with "expectation". When things are going to hell in a handbasket. . .and God rescues me. . .I'm grateful. But when things are cruising, I expect God to leave the cruise control alone.

You see, I couldn't sleep last night, and as I lay there wondering how tired I was going to be the next day I started thinking about gratitude. More specifically. . .*in*gratitude. Naturally, as I started realizing how ungrateful I am my insomnia only got worse. So, I started thanking God for *everything* in my life. . .the good, the bad, the solved, and the unsolved. . .like counting sheep in a way. I still didn't feel any sleepier. . .just more tired and morbidly introspective. But my mind had started wandering as I thanked God and gradually my thoughts turned toward the people in my life. My wife, children, church, friends. . .and I found myself considering all these folks. That did it. Getting my mind off myself eventually helped me drift off. Boy, was I grateful.