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As we approach the Thanksgiving holiday, social media timelines have been flooded with posts about what everyone is most thankful for this year, and the question has been weighing on my mind, “What am I thankful for?’

Society has become so obsessed with having “more” that we are  easily blinded by what we feel we lack. I can say that I have personally fallen into this trap in the past.

However, with each year I find myself more and more appreciative of my family, of the roof over my head, of the food in my belly, and of the comfort of knowing that I am safe when I lay down to sleep at night.

Maybe I’m just getting to the age where gratitude feels different, or maybe it’s because life has shown me how easily the things I cherish can be taken away. Sometimes I feel almost selfish celebrating all the good things I have and experience in life.

I never realized the luxury that I live in until recently, and by luxury I don’t mean a $1 million home with a Rolls Royce parked inside my five car garage.

I mean that tonight I will have the luxury of tucking my children into their beds safe and sound, covering them in kisses as I tell them, “I’ll see you in the morning”. 

Tomorrow I will have the luxury of driving to the bank to make my mortgage payment, groaning the whole way there and back. 

In a few weeks my family will have the luxury of gathering together to celebrate Thanksgiving, with a meal that could feed an army, before we head out for Black Friday shopping.

I have the luxury of knowing that every day my family is safe and protected within our home.

That’s what I’m thankful for. 

In a world where so much focus has been placed on “more”, it can be so easy to take those things for granted.

It’s okay to be thankful for the big things; for your top-of-the-line vehicle, for your beautiful two-story home, for your brand new $2,000 snoodle-doodle puppy. 

But, I’d like to remind you this year to also be thankful for life’s little luxuries because last night, a mother went to sleep for the first time without her child. 

Tomorrow someone else will go without a warm place to sit, or a dry place to sleep. 

While you scarf down turkey later this month, a family two streets down may have just used their last few dollars to keep their electricity turned on.

Families overseas are being ripped apart by war and losing their lives by the thousands every day.

I think we are all far more blessed than any of us truly realize.