Did you know that December 3 is “Roof Over Your Head Day?” I just learned about it this week while scrolling through a website of December holidays and events.
Sweet friends, it’s so easy to take things for granted. Not that we really mean to be ungrateful, but we are. Sometimes I think it’s because we get so busy that we don’t take stock of how good God has been to us. Or we become so focused on the things we don’t have that we forget to thank Him for the blessings that have become commonplace through the months and years.
We look at the carpet that needs to be replaced and neglect to thank Him for all the years we’ve had that soft cushioning to sit on the floor—and we forget that there are folks who just have mud floors in their tiny shacks.
We turn the faucet on and grumble when the water trickles in the shower slower than what we wish—and it never enters our minds that there are people who don’t have plumbing…or even water.
We watch commercials for gleaming new washers and dryers, (yes, those models with enough knobs and buttons to keep an airline pilot happy), and we whine because our laundry room is filled with old, basic appliances. When’s the last time we thanked God that we don’t have to haul multiple baskets of clothes to the laundry mat each week or that we don’t have to wash them in a muddy stream as some of the world does?
We complain about our old furniture, comparing it to the beautiful new furnishings our friends just bought, but we never think to say, “God, I thank You for that comfortable recliner where I’ve dozed off so many times and for that scratched and dented table where my family has shared stories, laughter and plates heaped high with food.
We whine because we don’t live in a luxurious community and never once thank God for placing us in a safe and secure neighborhood with neighbors who care about us.
We sigh over the clutter and the things we must care for in our homes, never once stopping to consider that the clutter and the time required to clean and repair things is because God has blessed us so abundantly.
And we neglect to thank Him that the roof over our heads covers a home where He’s blessed us with the amazing gift of our families. With walls that echo with love and laughter. With rooms where memories have been made. With a house where His presence is felt on a daily basis.
Be it ever so humble, there truly is no place like home—and today would be the perfect time to thank God for the roof over your head and all the countless blessings that go along with that.
Then my people will live in a peaceful habitation, and in secure dwellings and in undisturbed resting places; (Isaiah 32:18)
