Thankful

When my son was little, we invested in some Veggie Tale videos for him to watch. I loved that in addition to the cartoons being happy and clean, they also taught him Biblical ideals. If you've never seen a Veggie Tale video, you are really missing out. The stories and songs are very funny and sweet, and the tunes will get stuck in your head if you are not careful.

Alison now loves Veggie Tales as much as Zachary did. She is always running toward our video cabinet hollering, "BAH-LAH-LEDDY!" for Bob and Larry, the tomato and cucumber hosts of the shows. And when we bought her some Veggie Tale fruit snacks the other day at the store? You would have thought the child had went to sugar heaven. Now she runs to the pantry hollering, "Bah-Lah-Leddy Snack?!"

There is one particular video that has always been a favorite of mine, Madame Blueberry. It is the story of a very blue berry who is sad because her friends have much more stuff than she does. But lucky for her, a huge store opens not far from her house called Stuf-Mart. She goes on a wild spending spree there, but discovers that what she needed was not more stuff, but a happy heart. She passes a little girl sitting at a picnic table with her parents celebrating her birthday with only a piece of pie instead of a huge party. They do not have a huge tree house like Madame Blueberry, they only have a small home on the ground. Madame is surprised when she hears the little girl singing the following song:

I thank God for this day,

for the sun in the sky,

for my mom and my dad,

for my piece of apple pie,

for the love that He shares,

cause He listens to my prayers,

that's why I say thanks every day.

Because a thankful heart

is a happy heart.

I'm glad for what I have,

that's an easy place to start.

For our home on the ground,

for His Love that's all around,

that's why I say thanks every day,

that's why I say thanks every day!

Ali sings this song, or I should say tries to sing this song, and it is just adorable. I have been singing it with her to teach her the words a little better. And you know what? This song has really been speaking to my heart lately.

My attitude about certain things stinks. I should be happy for what I have. I AM happy for what I have. I have a wonderful boy, I have an adorable girl, I have fantastic friends, both here physically and on de Internets. I have a good job that lets me travel, I have a great family, I have a good home church. I have a God who loves me and takes care of me and keeps me from screwing up too badly. I have a roof over my head and food in my belly and clothes on my back. And when I crawl into my nice warm comfy bed at night, I am curling up next to my bestest friend and love of my life.

So the challenge for this week is to find stuff to be thankful for...and I bet none of us have to look too hard. Let's start noticing all the great and wonderful things that surround us that we are often too busy to recognize. Let's show our thankfulness to others and to God.

Then you too can be singing,

I thank God for this day, for the sun in the sky!

I thank God for all of you, and pray His best for your life. And if I could, I would send you all apple pie.

Why I say thanks every day...