in the shadow of a migraine

I spent today in the shadow of a migraine. Not exactly my favourite way to spend a day. I managed to sleep through the worst of the brain-splitting part but even the leftovers aren't much fun. Today was a gorgeously sunny day and the part of it I was awake for I spent trying diligently not to move my head. A sad waste of sunshine. I was gearing-up for a really good "poor, sad me" and I got thinking about the fact that I had spent one day unwell - just one sun-shiney day - and I realized once again that I have a lot to be thankful for.

A friend of mine is setting off for a year of travel with her family starting in September. We were talking the other day about how she's looking forward to showing her daughters that life doesn't often look like North America. We're living in Disneyland year-round by comparison to a lot of places. She was telling me a story from years ago when she and her husband were in Maputo. She was invited to a wedding at one point and one of the local women was explaining to my friend what it took to get married in Mozambique. A bride needed five things to be ready to marry - a pot to cook in and a brazier to cook over, a water bucket, a cloth ring to carry it on her head and a fifth thing that I can't quite remember. All these years later my friend remembers thinking about all the bridal registries she had seen filled with crystal and whatnot and how silly it seemed by comparison.

I'm not suggesting that we start buying water buckets as wedding gifts but I think that I need to remember how often my own perspective is so limited. I was sick today, for one day. It has happened before and it will happen again. But I know several people personally who have been sick a lot longer than a single day. I am so grateful that God often reminds us gently of who we are, and who He is. He doesn't often take everything away to remind us of what we had. He points out the little things and says "See, I love you, I've said so right here in that soft pillow, in the cupboards full of food in your kitchen."

As I climb into bed at night I try to remember to include in my prayers thanks for a place to sleep -- a place that is warm, and dry and clean and safe. There is so much to be thankful for, even on days when my world is mostly restricted to the space of a mattress.