Have you ever had one of those days?  The kind where your head is pounding and your feet hurt.  Your back feels like it is about to break, and you still have ten more things to do.

Well, I was having one of those days when a child’s essay caught my attention.  The title was, “I am thankful to be a headache.”  Doesn’t that sound strange?  I just had to read it.  The essay was written from the headache’s point of view.  What do you call a headache?  He or it?  For our purposes, let’s call it a he. The headache proceeded to tell how he was glad he wasn’t an earache because he would have to live in all of that ear wax.  Next, he proceeded to be thankful that he wasn’t a foot ache because he would be walked on all day long.  The headache went on to describe each part of my body that was aching.  The only thing Mr. Headache wasn’t thankful for was for the man who invented Aspirin.

At this point, my little voice taps me on the shoulder (better known as the Holy Spirit).  He says, “How will you apply this child’s essay to your life?”  Do you realize how humbling that is?  The Holy Spirit often uses life experiences and children’s words to teach me something, if I am willing to listen.

So I began to thank God that I have feet that can be tired.  I thanked Him for my backache.  I could be paralyzed and have no ability in my back to feel pain.  I thanked God for my headache and that I had a mind that could function properly (that is not up for debate by the way).  After I thanked God for my healthy body that could ache, I tried to look a little deeper.

What had caused those aches?  My feet were hurting because I had been on them all day long.  What was the cause?  My ministry as a teacher requires me to be on my feet all day, helping children and teenagers learn about the Savior as well as academics.  If I did not have the ministry God had given me, I may not have had sore feet.

At the time this incident occurred, we had five children at home.  They are married now and have children of their own so I know they can identify with this situation.  It had been a stressful day at work, and I had a headache.  It did not help that I had heard the word “Mom” several hundred times that evening.  I was trying to help some of the children with homework at the same time that I was grading papers and doing my own work.  As I looked at my children, I became so thankful for them.  What a blessing they had been and still are in my life! I was thankful they were well behaved, for the most part, and wanted my help with their homework.  Next to my husband, they were and are my very dear friends.  I don’t know what I would do without them.  Then I seemed to forget about my aches and pains and began thanking God for my life and all the blessings surrounding it.  I still do that to this day.  This was over ten years ago, and I remember the lesson I learned that day.  Unfortunately, I forget sometimes and have to be reminded to be thankful for the little problems in life, because behind those problems, are many blessings.

I have so many things to be thankful for!  I have a wonderful husband who loves me with all of his heart.  I am so blessed to have him.  My parents raised me in a Christian home and taught me Godly principles in life.  I had two brothers, one is in heaven, but I know my other brother would be here if I needed him.  He is in Texas, but he would find a way.  I have many more family members who I am thankful for, but time doesn’t permit me to continue. I am thankful to be an American, even with all of her problems.  I am thankful for this beautiful world with the sunrise and the sunset.

Most of all I am thankful that I am a Christian.  I am thankful that my God loved me so much that He gave His only Son for my sins.  He gave His Holy Spirit to be with me and guide me each day.  Without Jesus, I would not have the blessings that I have today.  The principles that my family and I have chosen to live by have made our life as close as it can be to heaven on earth.  Jesus made it all possible.

Lest I bore you, I guess I need to stop now.  I’ll pick it up with my Lord later.  He never gets bored with me.  When I get down and feel heavy-hearted, I start counting my blessings.  When we concentrate on our aches and pains and what we don’t have, it is easy to become downtrodden.  Count your blessings!

In Ephesians 5:20 Paul states, “Giving thanks for all things unto God and the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.”  May we store that verse in our hearts during this Thanksgiving season. Remember all of our blessings each day.

It will help you!  Try it!

Mrs. Worthington has five children and twelve grandchildren.  She serves as Principal of Pathway Christian Academy in Goldsboro.