Be Grateful

For some reason the last two nights of sleep have been interrupted at 4am. I'm not usually a very nice person when this happens. I've always been told to try praying during that time. I have done that. In the right frame of mind I find it to be great, uninterrupted, quality time with God. I feel refreshed and rejoice in the time spent praying, praising, and reevaluating. That was not the case this morning.
Zane is sick and kept coughing on me. I was irritated. Sophie, one our cats, was sleeping next to my head like she does every night, but she was completely stretched out and sleeping sideways. If I got too close to "her space", she would stretch out further and kick me in the head. My back was hurting and I could not get comfortable. I had been sleeping off and on and I WAS GRUMPY!

I'm not sure what woke me at 4am. All I remember is a loud voice (in my head) saying "Be grateful"! UGH! Be grateful for what? My thoughts immediately flashed to sitting in the gazebo at the hotel in Haiti. I'm not sure why! My only real thought was the warm breeze we had each night.

"BE GRATEFUL"! For what? My next thought was Junior. "BE GRATEFUL"! For what? This kept going for several minutes. I saw little snippets of memories, all from Haiti.
Maybe because I was grumpy, God was telling me to get over it, I don't have it so bad. I may be irritated, but I have a nice, comfy, warm bed I'm sleeping in, I have covers and pillows and a warm house. Maybe God was preparing me for this cold, snowy day by reminding me of a time, a month ago when I was complaining about the heat. Maybe God just wanted to tell me to "Shut Up and BE GRATEFUL!"

Be grateful today! Your life is not as bad as it could be! Be thankful for what you do have and don't worry about the things you want and don't have!