Back in the day, you could get your Mississippi driver’s license at the tender age of 15. If you had the correct circumstances, you could apply for a hardship license at 14, like my wife.

But the regular license at 15 had no restrictions or limitations. If you passed the written and actual driving tests, congratulations. You were free to move about the country, and boy, did we?

Learning to drive was a challenging task for me. Some of my kids had the privilege of growing up where they could drive lawnmowers, four-wheelers, an ancient side-by-side, a tractor, and even an old beater truck on a long gravel driveway. A couple of them even got to teach themselves how to drive a standard on the family farm.

But me? We grew up in the country, driving a few miles or more on a gravel road. That road will be necessary for this story to continue. But in the meantime, our daddy was either cheap or poor or both. We had a huge yard to cut and had to do it with an old-fashioned push mower—no self-propelled mower for my brother and me. Notice my precious sisters were left out of the grass cutting.

I hated cutting grass. For years, I swore I would concrete my yard and paint it green when I had one of my own. But I digress.

So, without the opportunity to drive anything else, my learning experience did not always make my dad proud. He had no one to blame but himself.

Fast-forward six years, and it was time for my sister Julie to get her driver’s license. The gravel road mentioned above was Price Creek Rd., which eventually turned into Campbell Swamp Rd. That’s where I imparted my vast and superior driving skills to my sister.

Bless her. I love her, but she couldn’t drive in a straight line. At some point, I famously said, “I don’t care which side you pick, but pick a side of the road and stay there.” Thankfully, she eventually picked the American side of the road and learned to drive properly.

It should be evident that I’m having fun at my family’s expense. But whether you got your license back in the old days like me or are just now getting ready to drive, we live in a fantastic time when transportation is so easy that we take it for granted. In these short days leading up to our National Day of Thanksgiving, we are typically thankful for big things like family, jobs, homes, etc.

But what if we rebooted and spent some time being thankful for the seemingly mundane? Think about all the “little” blessings we gloss over.

The truth is, I cannot count all my blessings—they are far too numerous. So be thankful for the big ones, but don’t forget the small ones. I’m confident the small ones are more immense blessings than we imagine!

“Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights, who does not change like shifting shadows.” (James‬ 1‬:17‬ CSB‬‬)‬‬‬

Les Ferguson Jr. grew up in Vicksburg and is a 1980 graduate of Warren Central High School. He holds a B.A. in Bible from Magnolia Bible College and an M.A. in New Testament Preaching from Johnson University. He lives and ministers in Oxford, Mississippi and is the author of “Still Wrestling—Faith Renewed through Brokenness.” He can be reached at lfergusonjr@gmail.com.