In one of his teachings, Ray talked briefly about food. Paraphrasing, since I don't remember which audio: "We really should be thankful that we don't have to go hungry. I'm very aware of food. It's a really nice thing to have food to eat. I've been without it before and it's really something to be thankful for."
I can easily identify with this. I'm also VERY AWARE of how nice it is to be able to eat (and eat a lot). I'm thanking God many times every day for this blessing. Even though it's just a physical thing to satisfy the flesh, eating is one of the great joys of my life (sorry if that sounds pathetic.)
Besides food, here are a few of my other favorite things to do, and the things for which I'm most thankful:
Sight. Ray spoke about the wonder of the human eye (he had dreams of writing a 50-page paper on it.)
It's a marvelous thing to be able to see.
Hands/wrists. Like most people, I use my hands a lot as part of my job (I draw). With my hands, God has given me a successful, adventurous career. It would be a crushing blow to not have them.
Breathing. Breathing is awesome! I don't mean to sound New Age, but sometimes I just sit and breathe and think of nothing else but the breath I am taking, and God's goodness in giving it to me. It's a wonderful gift indeed; I couldn't live without it.
You may notice that all four of these things have something in common: they're things that are so ordinary that they're easy to take for granted. I meditate on these, I think about them every day and thank God constantly for them. I know there are people who cannot enjoy these things as much (and some who can't enjoy them at all), so I'm very, very thankful and make an effort to not take them for granted. God is so good to me. This attitude of
giving thanks always for all things (Eph. 5:20) is a good way to live, and it can positively effect other areas of your life. For example, today I was out doing errands, and something happened which was going to add 30 minutes of driving time for. For a very short time I was a bit annoyed, until I realized how
insignificant, how petty, it was to fuss about that. I can SEE, I am ALIVE, driving another 30 minutes is nothing at all. In fact I couldn't drive at all if I didn't have my eyes and hands.