I’m thankful for the word undo. We can’t undo everything, but there are many things we can. We can undo something as simple as a mark on paper by erasing it, or a keystroke by hitting delete. We can undo a bad stroke in golf by taking a mulligan. Or we can go farther. We can undo the damage we’ve done to a friendship by apologizing. Or we can undo bitterness we’ve allowed to build up in our own spirit by forgiving one who has hurt us.
I’m thankful for vacations. These wonderful holidays, as the British know them, allow us to get away from the busy-ness of our daily lives and spend time all together as a family, although most of our latest ones don’t include my oldest, since her school breaks do not coincide with the other children’s. We usually try to go someplace we haven’t gone before. Experiencing something new together is exciting, a way to create a shared memory, something that is increasingly precious, as the kids grow older and we go in different directions more and more. It’s often fun watching differing reactions to the same stimulus.
I’m incredibly thankful for clean water. I recounted this story once before, but I’ll repeat it. A man in our church who grew up in Nigeria once talked about having to walk to the nearest water source each day as a child to carry home the family’s water. It was about five miles each way. One day, almost home, he fell and spilled all the water. He had to start all over. He cried when it happened, and I cried when he recounted his story.
In America we take clean water for granted. I know I usually do. But today at least, I praise God for it.