I know I’ve written about this lesson from Samuel before, but on those hard days {like my yesterday} it is all too easy for me to focus on everything that isn’t going right and to miss all that is going right.
You all know Samuel cannot ever eat gluten because he has Celiac Disease. Gluten {which is found in wheat, barley, rye and sometimes oats} destroys his gut – literally destroys the villi, the tiny hairs, that line his intestinal tract. And if they’re destroyed he can’t absorb nutrients. At all. So he never ever never not even a tiny taste even one little cheat can have gluten.
This bothers me. I get angry for him or sad or wondering why.
Samuel? He doesn’t let it bother him. He can go into a room, a fellowship hall at church filled with breads and pastries from Panera Bread, and ask me it gooten fwee momma? And when I tell him no he will then simply tell me gooten hurt my tummy. And then he’s done asking. No complaining, no whining, no irritation.
He sees everything he can have and doesn’t focus on things that he can’t have.
So yesterday, on my challenging hard day – as I joked on my facebook page I need to be careful about writing about spills and hard days and that as that seems to actually mirror my day – I got stuck in a rut focusing on everything that I couldn’t do, didn’t have, and wasn’t working. We need a new bookcase. There is nothing for dinner. You didn’t get anything done {when in fact they had accomplished much}. I had gotten myself stuck in my own perpetual cycle of seeing everything that wasn’t working.
Enough.
I need to learn {again} from Samuel. To look at my day and all that worked. Chats with Hannah, a wonderful dinner, an eight year old who understood his All About Spelling Lesson, my almost seven year old who just wanted to do one more math page and ended up finishing nine of them, and my Samuel grateful for the gluten free food that he can eat and never sitting in the complaint of what he can’t eat.
So today, today I’m going to try to see the world like Samuel. Grateful. Not comparing. Thankful.
How about you?
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As many of you know I am a community leader for Udi’s Gluten Free Foods. It’s a fabulous forum where those interested in living gluten free – whether with Celiac Disease or choosing to eliminate gluten come together, ask questions, share recipes, and support each other. Today, I’m asking the question How Do You Remind Yourself to Be Grateful? If you’d like to add your comment to this grateful question feel free to pop over to the wonderful Udi’s Gluten Free Community by clicking here. You WILL be blessed there!
11 comments
Currently, our residence is the Pediatric Intensive Care Unit of our children’s hospital. Daily, I walk the halls and it is very easy to be reminded of everything that I have to be grateful for. Sadly, there are too many children here much worse off than we are. There are children here who won’t go home, there are families who will suffer the ultimate loss. I pray for them. I also pray it won’t be us and every day I try to focus on the fact that right now, today, we are okay.
I, too, need to be more like your Samuel and my son who has celiac, and be thankful for all the wonderful gluten-free foods that are available these days, and not be so bummed about the things he cannot have. Thanks for lifting me up!
Yes, yes, amen, and yes! Let it go and focus on the blessings, wonderful reminder Samuel!
The door that goes down to our basement is horrible. It is a difficult sliding, two-panel folding door with only a hook and eye latch to keep it shut (sort of). Every time that I struggle to get it closed, I snap at my husband “have I mentioned that I hate this door?!” Every time. And on really bad days I add the fact that the stairs to the basement are too steep. And the railing is horrible.
I am grateful for our house. I am grateful for our basement. I am grateful for the door that keeps my 13 month old from falling down the stairs. And, most importantly, I am grateful for my patient and loving husband and our sweet little girl.
My boys cannot have artificial red food coloring, and have that same open heart towards it. Thank you for sharing this reminder.
I would like to say as well how grateful I am for your honesty and your faith-based sharing. So many preachers are all doom and gloom – we can all use more reminders and tips on finding the good.
I found your blog on Pinterest! I enjoy reading your posts. I love how you help me to put things in perspective! It is easy to get worked up about stuff! I hope I can remember to step back and let the lil things roll of my shoulders!
Just found you a couple of weeks ago… keep coming back to read a little bit more.
🙂 This is exactly a lesson I need to remember every day. My life is blessed, my kids (though annoying) are healthy and sweet and smart and love Jesus… I should be happy! Thanks for the reminder!
What an amazing perspective… my family does not have celiac, but we do have gluten intolerance and I am well aware that it can turn into celiac if we aren’t careful (and maybe still if we are). I’m sure you’re even more of an expert than I am, but I just found you and have started browsing your page… maybe you already know about it, but have you tried Annalise Roberts’ Gluten Free Baking Classics book? It’s amazing – everything we’ve tried is so good, and easy to make too. All the classics are there so it’s hard to miss anything. I don’t know where you live, but I am working toward a gluten and dairy free bakery called Flours & Hunny (http://www.facebook.com/FloursHunny). My specialty is fun, classics that my kids (and I) love. Maybe we’ll cross paths someday.
What a sweet lesson. Our oldest has Fructose Malabsorption, and cannot eat wheat along with many other things (although we are blessed in that she does not have to worry about cross-contamination in most cases). It is so easy to see all the “cant’s”
I’ve shed many a tear over it since her diagnosis.
She hasn’t shed as many.
I’m definitely a person that needs to see more of the “can”s in life.
Love your blog
aww you are such a sweet soul. I love this article, your transparency, your son.. so so sweet. I keep a gratitude journal and it makes a world of difference.
I really loved this post…both from your perspective as a mother, but also from the gluten-free standpoint.
Last December, I was tested for celiac but the test came back negative. (I’m not completely convinced…) But I did test positive for a wheat allergy (among a bazillion other foods). I went on an elimination diet of those foods but was cheating left and right… six months later (in June) when I was still having so much abdominal pain, my chiropractor recommended going on a grain-free diet. I about died at the thought. I didn’t think there was any way I would be able to do it. But I decided to do it for three weeks. Here I am almost 4 months later and have only cheated twice…and once was by accident when I didn’t realize some packaged meatballs I bought had wheat flour in it. The other time was my son’s birthday and I ate the teeny layer of cookie crumbles that comes in a dairy queen ice cream cake. lol
Anyway, I’ve had so many of those thoughts, anger, frustration…especially when I go to Bible study brunches where there’s pretty much nothing I can eat…And I’m like SERIOUSLY? Why can’t I be normal?
But I know all in all, I’m better for this and I’m working hard to get my body back to a good place after 24 years of abuse. Yesterday I made almond/coconut pancakes which really was my first “bready” thing I’ve eaten in the last four months. I was so incredibly thankful for those crumbly kinda-weird tasting pancakes…you have no idea!!! lol
Anyway, sorry for the book. but thanks for this post. 🙂