A Day for Gratitude

Today is the day, Jake Frost realizes, to start calling to mind the grace of gratitude.

Today is a gratitude day: a day to be thankful for all of the blessings God has given me, my wife, and our family. 

Nothing special has happened.  

It’s just another ordinary day. The alarm rang to get us up, we got ready for school and work, there were school drop-offs, and then were off to jobs. After work there will be more driving for pick-ups and after-school activities, then dinner, homework, hopefully a little time for basketball in the driveway, and then after everyone gets ready for sleep we’ll try to get in a bowl of popcorn around the table to kibitz all together over the doings of the day. Finally, we’ll do some read-aloud time, prayers, and go to sleep.  

Ah yes, and lest I forget: laundry. 

We have one inviolable rule in this house: the washing machine must never cease. 

There is always laundry to do! 

Just another day 

So today is nothing out of the ordinary, but I’m conscious lately that our “ordinary” is very blessed.  

All the kids had a good start to the school year. They’re all happy to go to school each morning (more or less); well, maybe “interested’ is a more accurate word than “happy”; they are all intent on doing their best. I’m grateful for that. 

And outside of school, the kids all have interests and activities of their own that they’re eagerly pursuing. Interested and enthusiastic are great ways to live.  

All are healthy. 

They all get along with each other (more or less) (usually). They still play together outside in the evenings, whether it’s basketball or bike riding, volleyball or Nerf gun wars.  

The family went apple-picking together this weekend and had a great time. 

And the older kids all do a great job helping with their toddler sister; they take joy in being with her and cheering on her accomplishments as she learns to talk and walk, and that makes a papa happy. 

We have a house that keeps us dry in rain, warm in the winter, and cool in the summer. We have food to eat, and some budding young chefs (and a culinary-talented mom) so that the food tastes great, too. A nice bonus! (And even Dad isn’t too shabby in a pinch, especially with the barbeque-sauce food groups.) 

We have bills to pay, but we have jobs that allow us to pay the bills. 

We are free to go to church, to read the Bible, to talk about the faith with our children. We have a parish with a priest to administer the sacraments.  

We are safe. 

Today is the day 

I’ve just been cognizant lately that we have much to be thankful for. 

So I decided I will be thankful. 

And this is the day: my day for gratitude.  

The Bible tells us that all things in creation look to God: "when you open your hand, they are well filled" (Psalm 104:28b).

And Scripture says to “giv[e] thanks always and for everything in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ to God the Father” (Ephesians 5:20).

Worries and difficulties we never seem to have trouble calling to mind, and we turn to God in prayer for help with those things—as we should. I just hope our family will also be conscious of our blessings, and turn to God in prayer and gratitude for those things also!  

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Copyright 2024 Jake Frost
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