40 Days of Gratitude 2017: Day 01: The Weekly Hodgepodge

This week, Mrs. Joyce, is using the acrostic THANKS  to ask our hodgepodge questions.

Join the fun! 

Come on over to 

From This Side of the Pond 

for the Hodgepodge link-up!

Tradition...how tightly do you cling to tradition when it comes to holiday gatherings and celebrations? For instance do you always do the cooking, never eat at home, always go to grandma's, never miss the parade, always watch football, never change the menu, always eat at 2 PM, etc.? Have you ever celebrated Christmas or Thanksgiving away from hearth, home, and family? How did that feel?

I've not yet had the opportunity to establish my own holiday traditions.  There were things I did back home that were habitual, but they were for the benefit of others.  My Colorado friends don't understand why I'm OK with going through the holidays away from family.  For the past several years, work schedules and distance have kept me from family gatherings, so we've all grown accustomed to my not being there. 

Help...is it easy for you to ask for help or are you a do-it-yourselfer? How is that a good/bad thing?

I've had to work on getting up off my fear and pride and asking for help while preparing for the possibility of either having to take care of it myself, or it not getting taken care of at all.

Abundance...what is there an abundance of in your kitchen?

Cereal.  I was given two boxes of cereal to go with the unfinished box I bought a couple of weeks ago.  Now that I can cook whenever I want, cereal is the "I'm too tired to cook" food. 

Name...the smallest thing you're thankful for? the biggest?

Smallest?  I'm thankful that my apartment has a ceiling fan in the living room.  That's going to come in handy in the summer.  Biggest?  My increasing health.

Key...What do you think is the key to living a more grateful life?

Remembering where it all comes from:

James 1:17 - Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and cometh down from the Father of lights, with whom is no variableness, neither shadow of turning.

Remembering that being ungrateful is the beginning of backsliding.

Romans 1:21-23 - Because that, when they knew God, they glorified him not as God, neither were thankful; but became vain in their imaginations, and their foolish heart was darkened. 22Professing themselves to be wise, they became fools, 23And changed the glory of the uncorruptible God into an image made like to corruptible man, and to birds, and fourfooted beasts, and creeping things. 

State your own random thought here.

Day 1:






















Today, I'm thankful for my ability to read and write.  It's a gift that I never take for granted.  From childhood through my undergraduate years, reading standard print was physically painful for me.  I was at the mercy of finding available large print or audio book libraries.  Now that reading is much less difficult--praise the Lord--I'm devouring all that I can until I leave this earth.