Getting To Grateful

Getting to Grateful

Any trainer worth his or her salt will tell you this: the muscles we use are the ones that grow stronger. The ones we ignore tend to move toward atrophy.

My thankfulness muscle has been getting a little flabby. Somehow, without my awareness, I’ve been working out my negativity muscles. Mentally, I’ve been keeping a list of woes and adding to it daily. But none has threatened the life of anyone I love or my own. None has caused me to sleep one single night on the street or miss even one meal I hoped to eat. None is permanent. Not one is beyond God’s awareness.

That’s what I’ve been remembering. Here’s what I’ve been forgetting: I’ve been forgetting small acts of kindness by friends and strangers. I’ve been forgetting the full weight of God’s history on my behalf. Forgetting that I’m called and equipped and empowered by the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. Forgetting that this part of my story is only part of my story. Forgetting that God is still writing the rest and that it will prove not only flawless but beautiful.

A friend of mine is facing an enormous trial with great grace. Her future is uncertain. Her present is challenging. When someone remarked that she looked lovely, almost radiant, she smiled and said these words: “Cancer becomes me.”

I am humbled and haunted by her confession. To all those who see her shine and wonder if she’s had “something done,” the answer is yes. She has. She’s had a work of supernatural grace done in her heart that has produced, against all odds, thankfulness. And it’s quite lovely.

So as I commence a new kind of workout, I need to say some thank-yous: Thank you, Father, for the overdue check that is sixty days and counting. For the funny random hiccup in my car when I accelerate. For the job that didn’t pan out, the plan that fizzled, and the imminent arrival of the third child of the man I once thought I would marry. Thank you for who you are in all of this, and who I am in you.

Let us continually offer up a sacrifice of praise to God, that is, the fruit of lips that give thanks to His name.

Hebrews 13:15, NASB