Gratitude

I could write a post about this topic every day (or at least compose one in my head).  The current gratitude train comes from a book I'm reading  - A Single Voice, by Kristen M. Oaks, which was suggested to me by the lovely DB. 

Sister Oaks talks about family influence, and I'll quote the part that made me grateful.

"I know from personal experience as a daughter who deeply loves her parents how frustrated and inadequate I felt in their eyes because I did not marry in the time that they expected.  ... My singleness was only one fact about me, but in my family it seemed to have become the dominant fact.  My parents felt my pain and mirrored it back to me and even intensified it - which was never their intention."

I am grateful for a family who accepts  me exactly as I am (well, there may be a few things about me they'd like to change), and never makes me feel less welcome, less important, or less anything because I am not married and everyone else in the family is.  Now, they may feel frustrated at my single state, and I'm sure they all will be thrilled when I meet and marry a nice man, but I've never sensed any anxiety on their part for me.  Now, that could be because I'm not very sensitive (something else to be grateful for on most days), but I like to think that it is because my family also has faith and hope, and they trust that God knows what is best for me and will provide for me in His time.  So thank you, family for being who you are, and for accepting me for who I am.

For anyone who's wondering about the book, I'm not very far into it yet, so I'm sure I'll have more posts in the future about my thoughts as I keep reading.  If you've read it and would like to comment on it or do a guest post, just let me know.