Take nothing for granted. It can disappear lightening fast.

What. A. Day. Today all my electrical things decided not to work. The electronic anarchy started with my work computer. My personal desktop screen would not load, this would not have been a problem, if it wasn’t for the fact that all the programs I need to work are stored on my desktop. Given my vast IT skills, I did the logical thing. I turned it off, then turned it on again. I did this several times, after about the fifth time I relented and decided to call in the experts. At the hospital I work for, the first line of defense is the Help Desk, (offsite IT), they remote into your system and try to correct the issue. We affectionately call them the “helpless desk”.  Here’s what the helped desk said, “Try turning it off, wait ten seconds, then turn it on again.” This made me laugh, Because…duh. The help desk gave it their all, however, they could not restore my desktop. The big guns needed to be called in On-site IT.  My computer was confiscated and worked on for most of the morning and into the early afternoon. I never realized how important my computer was till I had to work an entire day without it. It was so frustrating. However the mutiny did not stop there. At around 2 pm my cell phones dies. And by dies I mean, new cell phone required. I will say it again: What. A. Day! Today I learned not to take things for granted. We (humans) have the tendency of just expecting things to work, the way they always have. Today I expected my computer to work as it usually does, and I expected the same thing of my phone. On this journey the opposite of what we expect will happen. Don’t take the journey, the people, or the things around you for granted. Appreciate what you have, while you have it. Because tomorrow they may not be there.

“Make sure you don’t take things for granted and go slack in working for the common good; share what you have with others. God takes particular pleasure in acts of worship – a different kind of “sacrifice” – that take place in kitchen and workplace and on the streets” (Hebrews 13:16, The Message Bible).

So what am I thankful for today? Learning to appreciate what’s around me.