My family and I were without power for about a day, earlier last week. We all had a chance to bond with each other, even without the normal tasks of everyday life that we do, such as laundry, cooking meals and being able to work on our computers. Although it was hard to not have electricity, it also taught me that I can’t take everything for granted. We can’t take the electricity that powers our home for granted, and we shouldn’t, because we never know when a storm will hit and cause us to lose power in our homes.
It taught me that we can’t take having warm food and a warm shower for granted either, because so many people are worse off than my family was during the storm. It hit me, that even without having power, we still were able to keep warm with the clothes and blankets we had. My dad even had a generator so our food in the refrigerator wouldn’t spoil. The generator even allowed us to plug in our phones to charge them.

We had to go out to dinner, because we literally couldn’t cook food on the stove. That is something that doesn’t happen to often. We actually had to go out to enjoy a nice meal. It changed my perspective on a lot of things.
We also never know when we will lose power over any situation in our lives. We know that we can’t control hardly anything in our lives. God is the one in control of everything. We can only provide the love and support that our friends and family need. We should never take any of the people we love for granted, because we never know when God will call them home, or in what form He will call them home.
Always make sure to tell people that you love then no matter how you may feel, because you never know when it may be their last day or your last day on Earth. Even if you had an argument, always do your best to say you’re sorry and tell people how grateful and blessed you are for their presence in your life.
So many people have way worse scenarios than what my family and I had. Even though we didn’t have power, there are so many people out there who don’t even have shelter or a place to call home. It also taught me that I don’t have to have my cell phone or IPod on me and be texting 24/7 to be able to enjoy life and time with my family.

Even though texting and all technology is a huge convenience for all of us, it takes us away from communicating openly with the people around us and spending time with them.   I was able to spend much needed quality time with my grandma that night we lost our power.
Being grateful is something that we all can take for granted. We think that everything we may have such as a working car, garage, a house with no electrical problems or plumbing problems, as well as having an education, all comes with ease.

We also may think that our relationship with our families will always stay the same. That doesn’t always happen though. Someone can get sick and then everything can change on a dime.
Having a hot meal, taking a warm shower, having a job, or even a hot cup of coffee, making enough money for our families, are all things that we can take for granted. So many people don’t have a job or a home to go to. So many people may not have shelter from the winter cold.

Many people may not have family or friends to support them through difficult times either. I know how blessed I am to have all of those things and I‘m even more grateful that God has given those gifts to me.

Showing gratitude when someone helps us out in any way, can make our lives easier. Being able to walk away from a car accident without a scratch, is another thing to show gratitude for.
A verse that can remind us to be grateful is James 1:17 “Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights, who does not change like shifting shadows.” It reminds us that everything we have isn’t really ours, that it’s God’s.

Everything that we may have is a gift from God, and even though we have it, here on Earth, we can’t keep it forever or bring it to Heaven with us.  We are given everything that we have by God. Even our breath in our lungs. Every breath we take is from God Himself.
The things that make our lives easier, whether it is the car we drive, the clothes on our backs or the family and friends around us, to the pets we have, and our health, are all gifts. Our health can change on a dime, our lives can change in seconds, our pets can run away or get taken away from us. Our children and our families can stray from the Lord, and go down the wrong path.
We can even take God and our relationship with Him for granted. He is always there when we call on Him, but if we stray from Him, we can lose ourselves in the desires of this world. God can help us to restore our lives by taking things away from us, so we return to Him.

The lessons He provides us, help us learn new things every day. He provides us with everything we need to support our body and life, helps us appreciate the good times in our lives and He helps us cherish the special people and the awesome memories that we make.
We all have had times where we actually have to stop and think of what we are grateful for. He always gives us something to be grateful for though. We just have to know where and when to look, as well as to how to tune ourselves in to being grateful for everything we have.