Abundance

Do I truly realize how much I have? Sometimes I complain because I don't have something I want -- oftentimes something I don't really need. I don't take the time often enough to stop and think about what I have.

Our refrigerator has to be unplugged for a few days to let a pipe in the back thaw out, so I had to empty it completely. My parents were gracious enough to loan us a small fridge to use in the kitchen -- just for the essentials. We have the fridge from our old house in the basement, so everything else was bound for the basement.

As I was unloading the non-essentials from the fridge and freezer, I stacked the bags of food on the counter. When the fridge and freezer were empty, I did a double-take. This is what I saw.....

The photo doesn't do it justice. There were bags upon bags of food stacked on our stove and counter! I didn't even realize that some of the food items were hidden away in the freezer. Plus, we had our essentials in the smaller fridge....

I felt almost guilty when I did this little clean-out. I realized that I need to be a better steward of what we have. I need to get the things from the freezer onto the dinner table in the next few weeks. I need to make sure that we're not wasting food. I also need to be thankful that we have as much as we do. We've never gone hungry. We've never not been able to afford groceries. In fact, we tend to buy more than we need every time we shop!

I share this with you just to remind us all how much we truly do have. If you've never completely unloaded your fridge and freezer, it's quite an interesting exercise! I'm looking forward to scrubbing it before we restock it!! But more than that, I'm looking forward to being thankful when I open the door each time.