The other morning I woke up to find that the furnace in my house was not heating. It was COLD in my house.

Koski and I went out for our walk and when we got home, it hadn’t warmed up at all. So we called the furnace company. They promised to send a tech over between 10am and 2pm and I sat down to wait.

It was a long wait…and I got so cold I was in pain. It got me thinking. I am so blessed to have something as seemingly simple as a warm house. I don’t think about it most of the time. I just come in from outside and the heat is here. If I am cold, I turn the heat up. If I am warm, I turn the heat down. The furnace responds to the thermostat and most of the time I don’t even notice it coming on.

For some of our foodbank clients and for many others in the city of Brampton, that is not the case. Maybe they don’t have a house to live in, maybe they are constantly on the verge of losing their home, or maybe they are constantly worried about whether they will be able to pay the heat bill.

Sometimes I just need to stop and be thankful for the things that are easy to miss. The things that I find it easy to take for granted.

It turned out that the problem with the furnace was a small part that was easily replaced. An hour later I was back to being warm and comfortable in my house. And because the church has a service contract with the furnace company, it didn’t cost anything extra.

I have so very much for which to give thanks.