With Thanksgiving over now, I thought it would be fitting to write a post about being thankful. Makes sense right? The things that God has done and is doing in my life over the couple of years is amazing. And not just me- my family as well. I’m so thankful that we have a God that is willing to come down and meet us where we are and not only meets us there but lifts us up out of the darkness that we so often create for ourselves.
I have to admit though, as far along as God has brought us, sometimes I can’t help but worry about what will happen next. The path that God leads us down isn’t always easy. There have been some really hard times over the past couple of years to get us to where we are today. There were a few times where I didn’t know what was going to happen next- times where I was so scared. But what I’ve learned through those times is that God is still there and he brings us through them even when we feel like we can’t go any further.
The other thing I’m learning about myself is that I tend to thrive in the unknown as weird as that sounds. When things are scary I tend to cling to Jesus and walk super close with him because I know that He knows what to do and I trust Him to lead me. The times I struggle is when life is going really well. I tend to forget how much I need Jesus and His direction.
When things are going well, I tend to worry about what will happen next. What will be the next bad thing to go wrong and that’s not how Jesus wants me to live. I want to live thankful for the good days and trust in Him to hold all things together and know that He will carry me through whatever bad things to happen to come. I want to be more thankful for the easy times and less anxious.
I’ve been thinking a lot about thankfulness lately and one thing I realized about thankfulness is just there isn’t a lack of things to be thankful for- it’s just that we forget to be thankful. Period. That’s all.
I realized that when we go on vacations- that joy that we get usually comes from being thankful. We tend to think that it’s from just being away from our daily schedule and relaxing, and that is definitely part of it but what I realized is that when we go somewhere new or somewhere we don’t go to often we look at the area differently. We purposely look for the good. We notice the blue, sunny skies, the beautiful features in our hotel room, the delicious food that was made for us. I believe our joy on vacation is deeply rooted in that- us dwelling on the good.
When we come back home we forget to dwell on the (mundane) good things in our lives. What about that beautiful new countertop that you put in just last year? Or your wives delicious dinners that she prepares for you? It’s so easy to focus on the bad in our daily lives because we’re so used to a certain level of goodness but I wonder what would happen if we stopped to really dwell on each good thing in our days. Because really- each good thing is a gift from God. We might just be a people known for our joy.
Join me over the next few weeks as I try to focus only on the good in my life. Let’s give thanks to the God who blesses us so abundantly.
