Life's little victories or Praise God from whom all blessings flow

I've got a bundle of little things to be thankful for -- some big things too, that I often take for granted -- but I want to tell you about two little victories. In the past hour or so I lost track of my ATM/debit card. Did I leave it at the grocery store, where I last used it? Did I drop it on the floor at the fish market?

I searched my pockets and the shopping bag multiple times. Looked in the car. Emptied my pockets. Checked in my wallet again. And one last time--whoa! There it was. I was all ready to cycle over to the bank and fill out forms....

For the other, you need to know that we had our kitchen remodeled a couple of years ago. At that time, the contractor removed our insulated aluminum windows and leaned them against the fence in our side-yard. They were in the sills/framing/whatever that I'd slid them into some 20-25 years earlier.

After a couple of years of having weeds grow up around them, we finally got them removed from the frames and cleaned up. The lovely Carol posted an ad on craigslist, and someone took one off our hands. We even got money for it! But the others sat on the patio unloved, until a few days before our Big Trash Pick-Up Day.

I hauled them out to the driveway and left them leaning against "Fred," our 1986 Toyota; the lovely Carol made a "FREE" sign... but still no takers! I had hoped someone would take them and use them.

Finally, the eve of the big pickup, I put them clearly in the "Take Me Away" area and continued to stack stuff. On one of my trips out to the driveway, a fellow stood by his bicycle, talking on the phone and looking at the windows. "Please take them!" I said. I assured him that this was absolutely OK with me, and he promised to come back with his truck in maybe ten minutes.

I continued hauling stuff out, and he was back with his truck. I helped him load up. He took a pressure cooker (with it's old non-gasket) off our hands, too. Now this was what I call a win-win situation; I did not want that stuff to end up in landfill.

Of course there are bigger things to be thankful for too -- gainful employment, a roof and walls, a loving family, the freedoms and abundance we enjoy as Americans, the knowledge that we're already forgiven and the promise that we'll be made perfect. But life's little victories are blessings, too, and I'm thankful for all of them.