Sunshine

After a morning of phone calls to and from three different doctor's offices and my insurance company, I let out a low growl of frustration. Why can't it just be easier? Why can't you just go to the doctor and everyone code things the right way, receive claims the right way, and bill me the right way? 

I looked outside as sunshine flooded through the open blinds of our living room. 

I felt my whole body relax and get light. 

Here I am frustrated that I had to spend a few hours on the phone getting my healthcare sorted out, when I should be grateful that I have 1. a cell phone and service to make and receive all of these calls with, 2. people actually calling me back and answering my questions (one of which being the sweetest nurse named Jenny), 3. access to healthcare AND insurance coverage, 4. a CHOICE as to which doctors I see and which insurance company I use. And here I am actually growling over it! 

Thank you, Lord for using sunshine to remind me of how blessed I am.

...

Yesterday, I had five precious minutes of talking with one of my very best friends, Ashley, on the phone. I was emptying out our vacuum cleaner at the beginning of our conversation, so of course we spent a good two minutes talking about how neglectful we've both been about emptying out our vacuum cleaners. We admitted how silly we are, constantly putting it off until the next suction fest, and how much we hate the mess it can make... Then we laughed claiming our shared dislike to be a "First World Problem" for sure. 

I have a scab on my right knee. Somehow I managed to bruise my left hand and bum up my right knee during a cross-fit workout I did a couple days ago. This morning during a quick yoga session, I could hardly stay in my down-dog position for more than a five seconds. And being on hands&knees hurt my scabbed right knee so much! Again, I thought to myself, "First World Problem." I hurt myself, a little mind you, doing something good for my body. 

What room is there that I should complain about a little scab and bruise? Turn my nose up at a dog hair stuffed vacuum cleaner? Growl after two hours of phone calls?

I'm reading Ann Voskamp's book One Thousand Gifts. It's challenging me to remember that even the little things around me are gifts from God. I'm surrounded by so many little things! I'm surrounded by so many gifts! And I'm not ONLY surrounded by little gifts, but there are so many big things in my life that I know to be gifts from God.

In church on Sunday, our pastor reminded us about the difference between giving and bringing your tithes and offerings. He said you can only give something that belongs to you. But, if it doesn't belong to you, you can't give it away. Well, nothing we have belongs to us. It's all from God. So, that is why we BRING our offerings. We essentially are BRINGING them BACK to Him. 

So, couple this reminder with the reality that all of these little gifts (and the big gifts) around me are from God. EVERYTHING is from God. Everything started with God. Like, we can talk about physical stuff and we can talk about spiritual stuff and we can even talk about knowledge... It all originates with The Creator.

So, the Lilly Pulitzer calendar my sweet brother gave me for Christmas (that I absolutely love to write in and carry with me) ... That was a gift from Paul, but it was also a gift from God. Because, everything comes from God!

"Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and comes down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shadow of turning." James 1:17

The Father of lights, who is constant, this morning gave me sunshine, and with that sweet, perfect gift reminded me of how blessed I am.