Being thankful for today wasn’t always something I excelled at. When our sons were young, I often found myself wishing for the milestones to come—when they were potty trained, when they could talk, when they could drive. Then one day my husband turned to me and said the words that would change my perspective forever.
“Quit wishing away your life.”
I just stared at him. I opened and closed my mouth a couple of times as I started to defend my words. But I couldn’t deny the truth. Instead of finding joy in the moments, I had fallen into the trap of wishing we were at a different place.
This tendency to look ahead instead of being thankful for today reared its ugly head during our son’s deployments in the Middle East. I once again found myself wishing for the days to fly by and our son to return home.
The truth was there were things to enjoy and be thankful for every day, even during his deployment. We still had two sons at home, and we were in the midst of their growing-up years. As much as I wanted our oldest son back home, I wouldn’t have wanted to miss a day of the time spent with the younger two.
I’ve learned that fast-forwarding through life isn’t a short cut to happiness. There is joy in every moment of our lives if we just look for it and learn to be thankful for today.
