Gratitude

On Monday we went to the doctor for my monthly checkup. We had so much other stuff to take care of (dental appointments, courthouse stops, etc.) that had to be done during business hours that we both took off the whole day to knock it all out at once. The benefit was that Michael was able to see the sonogram too. It was truly an amazing experience. Even more so than the first time, Baby is now very distinctly human. The technician was on a mission to get all the shots she needed, so she kept stopping at shots and typing in ‘Stom’ or ‘Blad’ with little arrows pointing to the pertinent parts. In between the freeze frames, while she was vying for the right angle, we got to watch live time images of our baby kicking, curling its fingertips, and pursing its lips. It was amazing to watch all the activity going on and to admit, ‘I can’t feel a thing.’ ‘Shouldn’t I be feeling that?’ I yelped, as Baby took a big swing upwards and kicked away with both feet. ‘How oblivious could I be?’ Apparently Baby is not very strong yet, and the environment is so cushioned and weightless that the impact is minimal.

Life is full of ups and downs, of course. I try not to wait until Thanksgiving each year to count my blessings, but endeavor to cultivate a spirit of gratitude and contentment whenever I’m tempted to do a little wistful gazing down the road. Sometimes it’s easier than at other times to maintain a level perspective, or what I call ‘a good dose of Pippin-style unquenchable cheerfulness.’ (‘There is a crumb of comfort in all this, at least, and perhaps more than a crumb: now we can sit down to breakfast.’ This after the Black Riders ravage their rooms and set loose all their ponies and spoil the start of their secret journey. Why can’t I always look on the bright side of things like that?)

So I’m grateful for the adventure that lies before us. We knew that having a baby would change our lives, but it’s impossible to grasp the full impact – it still keeps dawning on us in little ways, like when we were setting our next dental appointments for six months from now, and at first we went for the same time slot: just like on Monday, if we have simultaneous appointments, then we can drive together, save time, and be more efficient. Until I remembered, ‘Oh, wait, we’ll have the baby then…we’d better stagger our appointments, so we can take turns with the baby.’ That’s a consideration we haven’t had to make heretofore! And yet, though we could choose to see this as an impingement on our liberty, I am finding it an exciting and incredible chance for adventure – this is uncharted territory! All those years when I was pretty generally happy, content, perhaps occasionally complacent, even bored, what I most feared was falling into a rut. Now change is inevitable, and that makes Life very interesting.

I can’t help cataloguing all the specific things to be thankful for this year – good jobs, nice house, healthy baby, satisfying election results – and yet these are all part and parcel of the big picture, which is simply to acknowledge that God is sovereign. If it were a rotten year, if times were tough, wouldn’t it still be incumbent upon us to give thanks in all things? So not only do we have the underlying assurance and comfort of His blessing, come what may, but we also happen to have the temporal and very gratifying blessing of happiness in our present circumstances. And that’s just icing on the cake.

A blessed Thanksgiving to one and all!