It was about 13 degrees. I really didn't want to leave my nice cozy house to venture out to the barn to feed the horses, but along with horse ownership comes responsibility. We feed and water our horses twice a day every day, rain or shine, freezing or stifling. So I got myself in gear and made it over to the barn, the air seeming to freeze my lungs if I breathed too deeply.

I tossed each of the horses their hay first, then started checking all the water buckets to make sure each horse had water and that it wasn't frozen solid. As I entered Satin's stall to retrieve her bucket, she looked up from her hay, put her ears flat back and snaked her head toward me as if to threaten me with death if I came any nearer to her pile of hay.

Now, wait a minute! First of all hay has never made it on my top ten list of favorite foods and secondly, have you already forgotten that I am the one who just gave you that hay? And come to think of it, I am also the one that pays for all of your hay!

While I contemplated Satin's grumpy, selfish, ungrateful attitude, it made me wonder if I don't sometimes appear the same way to God. How much of what He provides for me, do I just totally take for granted and assume that I deserve? And that it's mine and no one else can have any of it? Frequently I have to remind myself that everything I have comes from God and I should continually have an attitude of gratitude and be willing to share what I have with others.

1 Thess. 5:18 “In every thing give thanks: for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you.”