WHAT ARE YOU GRATEFUL FOR?

“I am grateful for my family, health and happiness. I am also grateful for the prosperity and safety for the residents of the City of Tecumseh.” -Tecumseh Mayor Jack Baker

WBy Sara Hilton hen I was 16 years old, I hit a patch of black ice while driving to school, slid off the road, down a steep ditch, and into a cow pasture fence post. Glass shattered and my car crumpled. Fortunately, I was uninjured and, being from a small town, was able to hitch a ride back home with a passing neighbor. I walked into my house, saw my mom, and crumpled into her arms and sobbed. That car was my freedom, and I had ruined it. I had even more agony when the repair shop deemed my car totaled. However, the mechanic told me that a car should not crumple so easily. He called my car a death trap and said I should be happy that I hit that fence post and happy that I wouldn’t be driving that car anymore. Just like that, I had gratitude for black ice, steep ditches, and cow pastures.

Gratitude is many things. It is an active looking for the wonderful that can be immediately seen. It is the feeling of warm sun in spring, the colors of autumn, or a hot bath on a frigid day. This active looking can change our outlook and perspective and shift our gazes from lack to abundance and blessing. Gratitude is also a retrospective understanding of the circumstance we didn’t want that worked for our good — like totaling a car in the midst of sleepy-eyed cows. And finally, gratitude is memory of those cow pasture moments in the midst of circumstances that are hard and imperfect and not what we imagined for ourselves. It is the memory that understanding can come in the rear-view mirror. It is the memory that times of totaled cars and totaled dreams were never the end of the story.

Gratitude is not an excuse for inaction, nor is it a Pollyanna outlook that ignores the wrongs we must right and the life changes we must make. Rather, gratitude transforms us from victims and teaches us to clearly see the tools and blessings and resources and beauty and abundance we have in our hands to make the changes that need be made — whether that be in life or in attitude. Gratitude is not weak. A posture of gratitude is a powerful place from which to live life. Everything changes when we leave our postures of scarcity and injury and enter a recognition of abundance and blessings. n

I’m grateful that I have parents that take care of me. A lot of kids don’t have parents. -Nate

I’m grateful that I get to go swimming at Lost Lake with my family. - Daniel

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*APR = Annual Percentage Rate. APR effective September 1, 2021, and may change based on market conditions and borrower eligibility. The APR will be a variable rate based on Wall Street Journal Prime Rate minus .26 (3.25% - .26% = 2.99%, current as of September 1, 2021) with a minimum APR of 2.99% and a maximum APR of 21.00%. APR may adjust monthly based on the Prime Rate as published in The Wall Street Journal. Minimum FICO score of 700 to qualify. Your rate may also be different depending on credit history, lien position and LTV ratio. Offer not valid for refinancing existing Premier Bank loans. Offer is based upon loans from $25,000 up to $300,000, a loan to value less than 85% on a first lien, owneroccupied primary residence and cannot be a purchase money mortgage. In order to receive the offered rate, a minimum draw of $10,000 is required at funding. An Annual Fee of $50 is waived for the first year. Taxes and property insurance are always required and flood insurance is required where necessary. There is a Draw Period for 10 years after the account is opened during which advances and purchases may be made, and during which reductions to principal are not required (unless credit limit has been exceeded), followed by a 10 year Repayment Period during which the minimum monthly payments amortize the outstanding balance on the line at the end of the Draw Period. Prepayment penalty fee is 2% of outstanding balance or $300, whichever is less. Other rates and terms are available. Subject to credit approval. Interest rates and terms are subject to change without notice. Consult a tax advisor regarding the deductibility of interest. Offer expires November 30, 2021. NMLS #424191. Member FDIC