Thankful For Simple Things

 Video Devo  https://youtu.be/8NSOuMNuAgc 

“Thankful For Simple Things”

Psalm 100:4 NIV

Enter his gates with thanksgiving and his courts with praise; give thanks to him and praise his name.

 

A little over 1 year ago on June 7, 2021, I underwent the process of a dental implant.  I’ve had numerous problems with this tooth and when my dentist tried to remove the bad crown to put another one on, I was sadly informed there wasn’t enough bone structure to do another crown.  At the time, it was very frustrating news.  He explained my options to me, but the only one that seemed the best was getting an implant.  I was told it would be a very long process. 

 

Got the tooth pulled, waited 4-6 months.  Then, got the post put in, waited another 4-6 months.  Got fitted for my final crown and waited another few weeks.  Finally, this past Friday, I got the final crown placed.  The kicker in all of this was that I wasn’t allowed to chew on my right side for an entire year.  At first, when I heard this news, I was really frustrated.  However, I got used to it and after a while it didn’t even bother me.  I just got accustomed to chewing on my left side.  After last Friday, I was so excited to finally chew on both sides.  As that happened, it reminded me of the simple blessing and pleasure of just being able to do that. 

 

I share this experience because as I was going through all of this in the past year, every time I was frustrated and wanted to chew on my right side, I thought of all the less fortunate people who are experiencing way worse problems than this.  I think of people who can’t even eat and need feeding tubes and what not.  Every time I got frustrated about it, God reminded me of how I need to thank him for the simple blessings and pleasures that I do have.  I was reminded that I still could at least eat whatever I wanted to, but just have to on the left side. 

 

It’s so good for us all to have these reminders when we get frustrated about little setbacks when others are experiencing so much worse.  It’s easy to get down and think we have nothing to be thankful for, when in reality, we have SO MUCH to be thankful for.  I hope this devotional serves as a simple reminder we need every day to be thankful for the little things we take for granted.  We need to be thankful for the abilities we have that some other people don’t have. 

 

Now, each day, as I chew on my right side, I am thankful after waiting a year to do so.  The waiting was challenging, but I got used to it and I just longed for the day I got my final crown.  I was so thankful and it’s reminding me each day to be thankful for the simple blessings and pleasures I have.  I don’t want to take these things for granted. 

 

Let us be thankful for the simple things.