Have you ever been living life, doing normal things like buying dog food and drain cleaner when all of the sudden, you feel a profound feeling of “rightness”? An incredible sense of gratitude?

Today was one of those days. John and I have plans for the afternoon so we got up early and headed to Walmart to get the oil changed and to pick up a few things. We knew that the car should be finished soon so we headed to the front registers to check out. John was handing me things and I was scanning them, putting them in sacks. He handed me the drain cleaner, I scanned it, and put it in the bag. I remember thinking, “We’ve been in our house for a year as of tomorrow — I’m so thankful.” Then he handed me the dog food and with it, a moment of serendipity came. Suddenly, everything seemed so right. I felt an overwhelming sense of gratitude.

But my friends, it got even better.

As we were finalizing our order, I found a box of dark chocolate covered cherries — my favorite store-bought Christmas candy. I didn’t put it in the cart — I didn’t even see them in the store. My favorite person knew that I love them and he added them to the cart.

Yes, I love the candy and I’m thankful for it. But more than that, I’m thankful for a guy who pays attention and notices the little things and then, does those little things.

We’re a few weeks from Thanksgiving and today we will be enjoying a meal with several people from the first church that we pastored — 27 years ago — a t one of our favorite restaurants and I feel so blessed.

Being pastors was something we were called to do and we loved following God’s call. We lead four congregations in our 26 years of ministry — one in Iowa, in California, in Colorado, and in Wisconsin. Among the many people we had the opportunity to love and lead, we are still in contact with friends and precious people who mean the world to us. And there is a sense of rightness when we remember them and our time together — then and now.

But a year after retiring from ministry, we have a new sense of rightness. A new sense of belonging and of God’s leading.

We are loving being members of a church without having the full load of responsibility to lead. We are loving and incredibly thankful to have our own home — even with the mortgage payment. It’s a place where we can build our own nest without worrying about what others will think. We are thankful for jobs that allow us to interact with people and to love them — just as we’ve done all of our married, working lives. Personally, I am thankful for second graders who welcome me into their lives and are willing to follow me where I lead them in their learning journey. As a wife, I am thankful that John is back in a warehouse and not outside in the heat and cold.

That sense of rightness that I felt this morning has been with me sense that first moment at the check out. And honestly, it is being enhanced by the fuzzy, 12 pound, Chihuahua curled up by my side.

So today, I am thankful for dog food, Drano, and Dark Chocolate Covered Cherries that made me take a look at my life. Not profound items, but a profound impact because they brought me to a place of gratitude. To a place of rightness.

To a place of home.

I am thankful.