Today I woke, as normal, at 6:30am. I helped my roommate get set for work and out of the house. I helped his new aide – it’s his second day working for us!
I baked 5 pecan pies for tomorrow. What’s tomorrow? Tomorrow is Guyanese Thanksgiving. I don’t know the real name of the holiday, just that it’s sort of equivalent to the American holiday Thanksgiving. I don’t know what the reasoning behind it is, I don’t know if it’s political or religious, I don’t know what to wear or what we’ll eat. All I know is our friend is providing food for a crowd and there is only one other person helping her, and so I got asked to make pie. 5 of them. Pecan (much easier than my typical apple pie).
I cleaned the bathroom top to bottom. I cleaned my roommate’s room. I cleaned the kitchen – twice (I am a messy baker). I did 2 loads of laundry. I boiled beans for tomorrow’s dinner.
All in all, it was a day jam-packed with mundane, ordinary tasks. Just a normal day. Well, minus the random “Thanksgiving-in-summer-but-with-Guyanese-food” part
Yet I found myself doing each task with a grateful heart. Grateful for the rest God allowed me yesterday so that I could be energetic today. Grateful to be busy and involved. Grateful to have a house to clean. Grateful to be able to provide for my household in this way. Grateful to be able to help a friend. Grateful to be able to put my skills to use for others, and especially grateful to give in to my sweet tooth!
It’s in ordinary days like this that I realize all over again how blessed I am, and how much I have to be thankful for. So on that note, and on the off chance you’re in Guyana, happy Thanksgiving!
God bless!
~Rebekah A
Being Rebekah 
Great post. I have a charmed life and I all too often take the blessings I have in my daily life for granted. The past two weeks we have had beautiful weather in Wisconsin USA, my family is in good health, my job is stable and we have all of our basics accounted for. I try to thank God daily for these blessings which I too often take for granted but 99% of humans who have ever existed would be exceptionally thrilled with.
Peace,
W. Ockham
Exactly! I have a friend who is in Haiti right now. One of the things she’s done was to build a house for a homeless family. With their limited resources, the ‘house’ was basically a concrete box with open slots for windows and door. And the family was so ecstatic and grateful, you would’ve thought you were giving them keys to a mansion. As she put it, “what most people from my hometown wouldn’t deign to live, this family saw as a blessing from God”. It’s such a shift in perspective.