Thank Heaven for Small Mercies 11/27/2022

By: Jennifer Richardson Holt

At the time this publishes I will have not long finished the holiday of Thanksgiving and I know I am speaking for myself here, but I daresay that others would agree with me I think I take this holiday for granted.  I do like it, I really do but with the excess that many of us, myself included, go to for the closely following Christmas I think it gets a bit lost in the shuffle.  We don’t forget it and most of us do celebrate it to some extent, but I do feel like we just look at it as a somewhat insignificant steppingstone that we use to get to the bigger celebrations.  Today I want to try to gain some perspective.  I want to really insist that I slow my brain for just a bit and try to embrace what the holiday is all about. I know that as you are reading this it has already passed but I truly want to be able to say that I am taking the grateful spirit with me. I know, I know. I have said as much before, but I want to try a new method of application.  Join me as I give it a go.

I want to pay attention to the little things.  It’s easy to be grateful for the big things. Not too many would say they have trouble being thankful for a comfortable home or a house full of family. We all have a pretty easy time of appreciating a kitchen full of delicious food.  These are the obvious things though.  Let me throw at you something that I can not possibly take more for granted that I was suddenly forced to go without a few days ago. Having running water is far, far more significant than I could have realized.  In my little area there was a water leak in the pipes that had to be fixed. The repairs began with a valve being shut off early in the morning.  It started as we were up and about with just pitiful pressure from the faucet. The tap produced a sad little trickle, but it served its purpose. If you had to wash your hand you could make do.  Then the weak stream turned to nothing. By this time, we had called and learned a leak was being repaired and things would hopefully be back up and running normally shortly.  But the thing is, I had several things I needed to do.  And I hadn’t even pondered this fact but every single one of them involved the need for water. I had dishes from pre-Thanksgiving meal prep that needed to be washed. Couldn’t happen. I needed to get a shower and wash my hair. Not possible. I also had several loads of laundry that needed to be tackled. Wasn’t an option. I was dead in the water, but, you know, minus the water. I couldn’t get done any of the really pressing things that I really needed to get done. I was made painfully aware of how pivotal something so simple was.  When the water returned, I admit I showered a bit differently thinking about how grateful I was to not have to trek to the nearby stream with buckets.  This probably isn’t something to which you have given much thought and I hadn’t either but the old saying “you never know what you’ve got until it’s gone” was unmistakably accurate those few dry hours.

Next, I wanted to take a look at something that many folks, or more accurately, something that I would complain about. If there is one thing that is super frustrating it is when someone’s nighttime serenade keeps you from being able to sleep. That metaphor might have been a bit odd so, by that I mean snoring in case that wasn’t clear.  My husband is rather talented at making an inexplicable amount of volume whilst sleeping.  But recently he wasn’t alone.  As is tradition, our feline child came and nestled against him for his traditional evening affection.  Before you know it both fellows had dozed off.  From the larger came the classic sounds of what one thinks of a traditional snore. From the smaller came something akin to a mixture of a tiny snore, a whistle and a purr.  I cannot describe his sound any better than that because I don’t think the English language has an appropriate term, but I can tell you without a doubt that it was ridiculously adorable.  There they both were, a man and his cat all snuggled up together sawing all the proverbial logs in an oddly endearing chorus.  I lay there listening and smiling.  Then my husband changed positions not realizing how close the little body was to him and things happened there was a great deal of offense taken and apologies had to be made.   Yet and still, the brief sight of a manly bicep draped across a black furry belly and both rumbling a restful tune was enough to warm the cockles of my heart.  Sure, it would have been difficult to sleep amongst it all, but I was happy to get to witness it nonetheless.  It was a little thing, but I am blessed to be able to enjoy it, little or no.

And, as is tradition, I have rambled on probably not even accomplishing my goal at hand. But from today on, I am going to try to notice these small wonders. The overlooked things that aren’t so glaringly glorious but still serve as tiny lights that seem to be no more than the golden flecks in a sunbeam.  As a matter of fact, that is a good analogy. Its nothing but dust in light. It’s nothing to write home about, but if you look long enough and with the right attitude of the heart, you get to see golden enchanted trails of fairies right there in your own home.  A grateful heart can make small things downright magical, and I want that for myself, and for us all.