I toss and turn with the sensation of being swallowed by blankets so I quit, leaving my husband and our furry children behind to the coolness and warmth that is our room. As I zombie-walk through the house, scents of cinnamon, apple, and raspberry alight my nose, helping me further awake.

Light a candle, turn on a light. Blue light and the gentle sounds of flowing water pour in through panes of glass. My desire for warm and cozy sets in but caffeine in a sweater mug will have to do. The coffee maker does its job. Drip. Drip. Guurrrrrrgle. Drip.
Within a few minutes my desires are satisfied. As I sink into my pink, wingback chair in the room filled with colors of a sunset I ponder this life. I contemplate my hopes, goals, and dreams. The lazy sounds of rain falling from the roof enter my mind.

I think, “How different this morning and my whole life would be had I lived 100 years ago, or even in a different country today.”

Often it is so easy to compare lives. Instagram. Twitter. Facebook. Pinterest. They’re so accessible to encourage us to compare, envy, and become ungrateful, but really, even in the most meager of situations many peoples’ lives are so much more comfortable and easy than what they could be.

Think about it, in our world we have silent servants.

Instead of waking 4 hours earlier to start the fire to warm the house and cook over, the HVAC system did that.
Instead of roasting my own coffee beans, hand-grinding them, waiting for the water to boil to brew my coffee, I had it in minutes with pre-roasted/ground coffee and a coffee maker.
Instead of doing laundry all day, everyday by hand, or having to walk to the nearest community well-pump to carry home my water, I have a washer, dryer, and running water.
Instead of having to waddle along or ride on the bony back of a donkey to the nearest town while feeling the increasing pains of labor, only to get there to give birth in an animal stall with no doctors, I could (if I were pregnant- WHICH I’M NOT) just hop in a car and drive to the closest hospital to get some of the best medical attention in the world.

BLESSED!
I have a life in which I have things pretty well. I am grateful.

So next time I want to complain, things don’t go exactly my way, or events don’t go as planned, I will stop and remember the many benefits in this life that I DO have and be grateful instead of seeing the things I’m missing and living bitter.

So, how was your morning?