In my 35 years of living, I’ve never once been pregnant. I’ve never had the joy of carrying a child in my womb or bonding with a creature whose sustenance comes from milk created within my body. Holding a newborn child is an exquisite experience like none other. I can only imagine how that feeling is increased 100-fold when the newborn you are holding is your own.
I’ve never experienced these joys and don’t know this will ever be a part of the life God has planned for me. But I’ve also never had the requisite sleepless nights of parenting a newborn, morning sickness that lasts all day or the never-ending chore list that accompanies being a new mom. I am grateful for both.
Life is interesting. It is a bit, as Forrest Gump’s mother said to him, like a box of chocolates; you never know what you’re going to get. For this current childless moment, I am grateful for the time I am able to spend uninterrupted with my husband. I have a sensitive stomach so I am incredibly grateful for the lack of nausea in my life. I am grateful that in just a couple months I will be leaving for the adventure of a lifetime: traveling to all 7 continents and 12 countries.
I am grateful. I do not feel as though anything is missing from my life.
On the other side of this coin, so many of you –most of you, I’d expect- are Moms. You have had, at one time or another, a beautiful bundle of joy to call your own. You could not even imagine a life without your children. They are a never-ending flow of blessings. God used you to create life, to lead a new being into a life of their own and that is a miracle unto itself.
Be grateful. In the very moment in which you live, be grateful. I have no desire to be in your shoes as I am incredibly thankful for my own. And you should have no admiration for mine. My path in life will be different from yours. And your path in life will be different from your closest friends. That’s the beauty of being human; No two are alike.
No matter the box of chocolate you’ve been given, be grateful. There is nothing more beautiful than a heart filled with gratitude and a day that has been lived on purpose.
Until tomorrow…make it a great day!
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