My husband and I have been together for forty-five years (and yes, I’ve been trying to convince anyone who’ll listen that I was only five when we began dating, but to no avail. But I was a child bride. Really. Well, I was at the very least childish. 😉 )

Once both of our sons left the nest, we found ourselves alone for the first time in over twenty years. I felt unsure during that first month. What if we were no longer deeply connected to each other? What if we were no longer compatible? Did we still even like each other?

There was no doubt that we continued to love each other, but over twenty years of talking about kids and basically taking each other for granted very likely had taken a toll.

I recall going out for dinner one empty-nest evening. Amazingly, it was as if we had time-traveled back to our early marriage years. We were just as invested in each other as we had been back then, but perhaps even more so. What a relief!

But this got me to thinking about taking loved ones for granted. How many times, after the loss of a loved one, has a family member or friend said, “If only I’d known?”

All too often we go on with our usually very-busy lives, not letting people know the impact they make in our lives.

And how true is it also that we take God for granted?

Do you only pray when you need something or in times of trouble? Do you mumble out a quick, pat prayer without giving it much, if any, thought? Do you mean to say a prayer at bedtime, but fall asleep too soon? I’ve been guilty of all of these things and, try as I might, I sometimes don’t succeed in changing my behavior.

Do you take time to let our Heavenly Father know how much He means to you? How much He has affected your life? How much his intervention has improved your circumstances? I’ve been making an effort to do each of these things because I want to be more present in my day to day life, and not so busy living it that I forget to hold close God and the most important people in my world.

I now try to show my appreciation on a daily basis.

I’m not perfect at this, but I try to let the people around me know how much I care about them by doing little things and saying a quick thank you. And I do this by giving a prayer of thanks to our Heavenly Father!

A few words can go a very long way!

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Speaking of which, to the Christian’s Read readers, thank you for spending time with us, reading our blog posts. We couldn’t do it without you guys! I’m praying for blessings for each of you!