One of the things I suggest people do is to maintain a gratitude journal. It is something I do on a daily basis. I write down five things every day that I am grateful for and they can not be the same things I was grateful for the day before. Sometimes I write them down throughout the day as I find myself being grateful and other times, like today, they come at the end of the day when I have time to just sit and reflect. Usually, they are things that I am aware of. Things that I know the Creator has done in my life. Like a friend who calls just when you need to hear their voice or the way you can feel loved when your cat curls up on your shoulder and purrs.
But sometimes, I am reminded of how the Creator is working in my life when I am not even aware of it. I cant remember the exact date, but I do remember how what I saw changed my life. It was about 18 months after I had last had my tires changed and I woke up one morning to a flat tire. I would have called AAA and had them take care of it, but it was one of those things I had sacrificed as I was trying to learn how to live on a leaner budget. So I called a friend of mine and asked if we would come and change the tire out for me. He said sure.
So here I am down in my apartment reading through pages of intense theological reflections, when I hear my friend knocking at the door. “do you have a minute?” he asked. “sure” I said. “I need to show you something” he told me. so we walked up to my car.
He said when was the last time, you had your wheel cover removed or any work on the tires done. after thinking about it for a moment, I told him it had been about 18 months. He then told me “God must be looking out for you.” it seems that for that 18 month period I had been riding around with one lug nut holding the wheel of my tire in place. I had driven from New York to Virginia and back, been on the highway between Rochester and Brockport and back numerous times, and in all that time, in all those situations, the Creator had kept my tire securely in place.
It made me realize that the Creator does so many things for me in the background that I never know of, that I never have reason to pause and say thank you for keeping me from dying today. Thank you for keeping me from being in an accident. Thank you for keeping me from being in a harmful situation. Thank you for reminding me how you are always watching out for me, even when I do not realize what you have done.