I Can Brush My Teeth

When a teenager asked Pastor during the quiz today, "Can you read question 3 again?" he grinned and winked at the adults in the room and said, "Yes, I CAN....   ...  ...   Oh -- would you like me to?"

I can brush my teeth.
I can go up and down the stairs to do laundry.
And if I forget to toss in a pair of socks, I can run downstairs again to add them to the load.
I can get myself a drink.
I can pick up my fork and feed myself supper.
I can even drive a car to the store and do an errand.
I can see well enough to read a book.
I can stand up in the shower.
I can kneel by the sink and use my neti-pot.
I can pick up my glasses and put them on my face.

This weekend I am particularly thankful for what I can do.  I so seldom realize what a great blessing these tiny things are, and how difficult life can be when these simple things are daunting tasks or even completely impossible.

My mom had surgery a week and a half ago.  Now she's recuperating and trying to get her meds regulated again and trying to get her hands & feet to DO what her brain is telling them to do.  It makes a person thankful for patient and tender CNA's and nurses.  And when I whine at Gary because I "only" accomplished laundry and bread-baking and mopping and vacuuming and supper and a half-day at paid work (and there was so much more that "should've" been done) I should be slapped.

I can brush my teeth.
And I can shower.
And I can go potty by myself.
That right there is a lot to be grateful for.

And if those were impossible, "Though He slay me, yet will I trust Him. He shall be my salvation" (Job 13).

"I believe that God has given me my body and soul, eyes, ears, and all my members, my reason and all my senses, and still takes care of them....  All this He does out of fatherly, divine goodness and mercy, without any merit or worthiness in me."