A "bed" end to the day {not forgetting....}

I had a big lesson with regards to the "do it now" principle, last night.

We had a Patch the Pirate song we sang, growing up, and I still sing to the children now.

"Do it now, don't delay, don't put it off 'til another day,
Go ahead begin it, right this very minute - you'd better do it now!"

Except, yesterday, I didn't "do it now".

I stripped our master bed, to change the bedlinen. However, I was so keen on getting it all into the wash, that I didn't make the bed ready to sleep in again.  I thought "Oh, I will remember to do it later, I won't forget".

Hmmmmm.

Cue pregnant woman.

I got to my bed last night, after staying up a little later than normal, working on finishing a crochet project.  I was SO ready for bed. I was tired, and I needed to just lie down.

Yup.  Of course.  I hadn't made the bed.

Nothing quite like walking into a room, and seeing a "blank" bed.

*sigh*

Actually, I gave a very high pitched squeaky, kind of scream.

My bed is not even a quick, easy one to make.  It's big, and I can only find flat sheets that will fit on my rather deep mattress.  So, I spend half the time walking waddling around the bed, making sure that the sheet is evenly spread over the bed, before doing my "hospital corners".  Then there are the 4 erm, 6 pillow cases (2 extras for pregnancy purposes), and the massive duvet cover, which is invariably a battle to fit the duvet in.

All at 11.30pm

Great fun.

I have to say, I was even MORE glad to sink into my bed, after that palaver.

Mental note to self.

"Do not forget to make bed STRAIGHT away, after stripping it."

Well worth remembering, methinks.

As I was mulling this over, and making my bed, my nmind sprang to one of my favourite passages in the Psalms.  (I specially love to sing it in Metrical Psalm form, to the tune Strachathro... but that it another topic)

"Bless the LORD, O my soul, and forget not all his benefits:"

Psalm 103:2

It's funny, but you would think that the Psalmist would not need prompting to REMEMBER God's benefits. You would think WE would not need prompting to remember such a thing.

But, if you are anything like me, you can forget to say thank-you, and acknowledge the many benefits we have, as children of God. 

The Palm carries on and names a few...

"Who forgiveth all thine iniquities; 

who healeth all thy diseases; 

Who redeemeth thy life from destruction; 

who crowneth thee with lovingkindness and tender mercies; 

Who satisfieth thy mouth with good things; so that thy youth is renewed like the eagle's."

SO many things that we benefit from, under God's care and keeping.

SO many things that we SHOULD remember to be thankful for, and we all too often forget.

We receive things, on a daily basis, that we can almost complacently accept, and never quite remember to utter those words "thank-you" to our gracious, heavenly Father.  It seems to be all too easy to just accept these daily mercies and forget to acknowledge the giver of "every good and perfect gift".

We spend a lot of time (or we SHOULD...) labouring to remind our children to say "thank-you" when they are given something, but we take our gifts for granted, and like the 9 lepers, never go back and say "thank-you" for all that we have.

As each gift comes my way, throughout the day, my heart need to be, like the hymn-writer says 

"Come, thou fount of every blessing,

tune my heart to sing thy grace".

Our hearts need to be tuned into thankful mode.  Acknowledging, and being thankful for, all the MANY blessings we receive every day.

Our minds need to be dwelling upon those blessings, and not be bogged down with the negatives.   There is so much to thankful for, if we just keep our hearts lifted to the fount of blessing.  Being burdened by struggles and trials, I believe, is one the biggest distractions from remembering God's benefits to us.  If we are dwelling on how miserable/ill/discouraged/frustrated (you get the picture...) that we feel, then we are not remembering the blessings. 

I am thankful, today, for my bed.  Thankful that God provided the money to buy such a lovely, comfortable, bed - to have the money to buy more than one set of bedlinen,  so that I didn't have to go all the way downstairs last night, to get the set I had taken off, washed and dried (in the the washer and dryer that God provided, through generous family...), that morning.  Thankful that I am blessed with sleep every night, even though I am heavily pregnant.  Thankful for the snoring, duvet-pinching husband, who sleeps there beside me every night.  Thankful that, when I am feeling nauseous and tired every afternoon this week, heralding the near end of my pregnancy, that I know I can jump into bed, and waken refreshed every morning - with God's mercies new with it.

I am thankful, more than all else, for my Saviour - that He loves me, forgave my sins, and forgives my forgetfulness.  

Who is so gracious to me, in spite of my forgetfulness.