Being grateful to God for the many gifts and blessings in your life takes time to develop, but once you get the hang of it, it does become easier to spot the little things of every day that God has blessed you with.
Every once in awhile, however, God shows me that there is an area of gratitude that I don't always consider: things that haven't happened to me.
For example, the other day I was reading a blog post about the most ridiculous thing a doctor has ever said to you. Wow, some of them were truly idiotic; some were down right dangerous; others were so insulting I don't know what I would have done. That made me offer up a quick thank you to God for not having ever placed me in a situation like that. Okay, well once I had a chiropractor insult me because I was pregnant with #4 but that was tame compared to some of the comments I read.
Facebook is always a good ground for remembering the things that God has sheltered me from so far: terminally ill family members, jaw-dropping liturgical abuses, and relatives that are practicing witches to name just a few.
I don't think that this type of gratitude is something I need to delve into on a daily basis, but when it is brought to my attention, I make sure to offer up a hearty thank you for the small crosses that God has seen fit to bless me with. We have our fair share of them, and maybe other people might look at them and be grateful they don't have them; I don't know. What I do know is that God gives us sufficient graces to carry our crosses and I'm grateful for the ones He has given me and the ones He hasn't.
God Bless!
