I work in a nursing home. Every person I work with is a reminder of how short our lives are. It can be really depressing…seeing the those who are left there…forgotten…alone.

Demented,

crippled,

widowed,

lonely.

It is so easy to think of how horrible it must be…to be one of them. To be old. To have lost everything you worked for in life. Your home, your ability to drive…dress yourself…celebrate the holidays with your family…it’s all gone.

How scary must it be…to be so close to death?

But, as I’ve been reading One Thousand Gifts, by Ann Voskamp, I’ve realized, maybe it’s not all so sad and dark. Maybe there are people who are…

content

full of life,

at peace,

and maybe even,

thankful.

So I decided that I would visit with people and ask them,

“What are you thankful for?”

It’s amazing how quick they were to give an answer!

A 92 year old woman told me she was thankful that through God she could find relief from her pain. She was also thankful that through God, other people can get help with their struggles.

Another woman, 89 years old was so thankful for her dog “Choo Choo” (a little shitzu who gets new bows put in her hair every month) that she began to cry. She was also thankful for her family and LIFE.

Ninety-three year old Elsie was thankful that she is healthy!

And Mary was thankful for her family. They have been helping her out & have never made her feel like an inconvenience. She was thankful that her grandchildren come to visit her. And something that made me giggle–she is thankful for the neuropathy in her leg, because she has felt no pain after 4 surgeries on a broken bone! Neuropathy is a loss of sensation due to nerve damage, in her case, she has no sensation in her lower leg. In most cases, people would not be thankful for this. But in her case, it is a blessing.

My overall impression has been that the people in the nursing home have an overwhelming focus on what they do have. And what matters the most in life…

{Family} {Friends} {God} {LIFE}