I Am Thankful
Has this season made you angry? I noticed the other day that I was cleaning my house mad, taking out my dogs mad, entering into conversations mad, and the list could go on and on. I finally realized it one day when my husband and I went on a picnic. We packed up our car and went downtown, the weather was perfect, people were out and about enjoying life, and things seemed to be somewhat back to normal after the craziness of 2020. However, I sat there feeling angry inside. Everything inside of me wanted to enjoy this amazing moment with my husband, but I was being tugged away from it, feeling distant from this beautiful moment. I opened up to my husband the next day, letting him in on that piece of my heart, and ever since that moment I have been on a slow journey of realizing what was happening in my soul.
I realized that I was the product of my environment. I had surrounded myself with anger. Everywhere I looked, I was seeing people upset about something. I was spending more of my time tied to my phone screen than to the life of God’s Word. I would find myself up at night, wondering how God was going to “fix” the situation of our world right now, and trying to wrestle with my part in all of it. I was surrounded by a world of anger, and I missed something so important. I missed what it means to be thankful, no matter what the circumstance.
Thankfulness isn’t unrealistic. Thankfulness isn’t being naive to the world around you. Thankfulness is a choice in the midst of life’s greatest battles. Thankfulness is taking your eyes off of the world and placing them back on a God who is in control.
Paul, who was facing a great battle of being in prison, wrote a beautiful scripture in Philippians 4:10-14 (MSG). He says:
“I’ve learned by now to be quite content whatever my circumstances. I’m just as happy with little as with much, with much as with little. I’ve found the recipe for being happy whether full or hungry, hands full or hands empty. Whatever I have, wherever I am, I can make it through anything in the One who makes me who I am.”
Thankfulness will give you strength when you are patiently homeschooling your kids. Thankfulness will give you strength when you are single and home another night alone. Thankfulness will give you strength to look at the news or social media, and have courage to keep fighting for those in need. Thankfulness will give you strength to have joy in the midst of darkness.
So today, what can you be thankful for? Take 5 minutes out of your day and write down a list of things that you are thankful to God for. I believe that as you list these things, God will touch the parts of your heart that are holding anger, frustration, anxiety, fear, etc. and replace it with a peace that is only found in the One who makes you who you are.
~ Abby Lee