Thankful?

Well, the election has passed, the hug-bub is gradually ceasing, and yet we have many things we can still fret over, don't we? Ray and I continually take hits on our 401K, how about you? Has your stress level been elevated? It's difficult not to "go there," which means downhill in our thoughts. It is so easy to focus on all the negative, isn't it?

Having lived with unpredictable MS since 1977 has sort of prepared me for this time in our lives. I never completely have security about my health. I know I could become more disabled at any time no matter how much exercise, good eating habits, and MS drug treatments I adhere to.

I was telling a class of first graders about my symptoms of MS one time, when a precocious little guy raised his hand to ask, "Does anything in your body work right?" I laughed out loud! Of course many things in my body worked right, but this little guy thought the worst from my presentation.

Ever since then, whenever I go to a doctor and I hear something good--about my blood pressure, blood work, results of a test--I think (or say aloud) something in my body works right!

And I've applied this principle to my entire life. When the MS is bad, with symptoms crashing in on me, I can always find something for which to be thankful--I can see, I can speak, I can write. If one of those is gone at the time, I can be thankful for something different. Paul wrote the people in the church at Ephesus "always giving thanks to God the Father for everything" (Ephesians 5:20).

We can practice this in all of life. So our 401Ks are dwindling, do we have health to be thankful for? Our health is bad, do we have family (or just one person) who cares about us? Our children are angry with us? Do we have hope they will mature and we can be thankful for that?

Get my drift? There is always something for which we can be thankful. And thankfulness makes our problems less overwhelming. It can even take our mind off the situation that is bothering us for awhile.

I recommend we all begin looking for things we can be grateful for. Once we start, we'll soon have a growing list and life looks a lot better!

To being thankful!

Jo