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Bible Verse for Bonus Day: Since everything God created is good, … receive it gladly, with thankful hearts (1 Timothy 4:4).

In September 1975, I left California to enter college in Massachusetts. For the next 75 days, I lived in a freshman dorm, a rather Spartan existence, but not an unpleasant one. Since I couldn't afford to go home for Thanksgiving, I traveled by bus to central Connecticut to join some family friends for the holiday. On Thanksgiving Eve, as I retired to my room, I slipped off my shoes and socks to unpack my bags. I felt the carpet under my bare feet, enjoying the softness and the feel of the threads between my toes. Suddenly it dawned on me that I hadn't felt a carpet like this since I'd left home. For two-and-a-half months, I'd felt only dusty linoleum underneath my bare feet. But now, in a real home, I delighted in the sumptuousness of wall-to-wall carpet.

I had grown up in a home with carpet—bronze shag, to be exact. But I had never appreciated the feel of carpet beneath my feet until that moment. How could something so ordinary feel so enjoyable? I wondered what else I'd been taking for granted. That weekend in Connecticut added several other items to my list of newly discovered appreciation, including ceramic mugs, quiet nights, and a bathroom heater.

—Mark Roberts in No Holds Barred

Thought to Apply: I feel a very unusual sensation. If it is not indigestion, I think it must be gratitude. ;mdash;Benjamin Disraeli (English prime minister)

Adapted from No Holds Barred (WaterBrook, 2005). All rights reserved by the copyright holder and/or the publisher.

Copyright © 2007 by the author or Christianity Today International/Men of Integrity magazine. Click here for reprint information on Men of Integrity.

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Prayer for the Week

Move me, Lord, beyond appreciation for desires granted to gratitude for all Your wisdom allows.

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