Thanks-Living

           Bad things happen in life. It is through experiencing great sadness that you can truly experience great joy. Sad things happen to us. Sad things happen to our friends and sometimes we take them on as our own sadness. And soon, if you're not careful, you're counting your sorrows and not your blessings. There is thankfulness in all things. Sometimes its hard to see the thanks through the hurt or the sadness or the anger. It is so easy to go through life, forgetting to thank God for all that he gives us. He gives so much that we just take for granted.
I read a book this summer called  One Thousand Gifts. It was kind of hard to get into at first because her writing style is so different. But the message was amazing, and much needed.  It is the author's story of her journey to living thankfulness. A journey that started by a challenge to write down one thousand things she was thankful for. She began to look for thanks in all things and to her surprising she found it.....everywhere.

 

His desire for us it to be thankful, lifting hands in praise to Him for all that he gives. 


2 TIMOTHY 3:1-2
1 But know this, that in the last days perilous times will come:
2 For men will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy.
We can get to that point so easily, becoming so wrapped up in ourselves....our idea of what will make us happy, our selfishness. 


I love listening to one of the little boys at my church pray. He thanks God for the day, for the people we are with, and of all things.....the trees that give us oxygen. He is 8. We think we are teaching them.... but oh, the things they teach us.
1 THESSALONIANS 5:18
18 in everything give thanks; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you. 
This is my desire, and what I'm trying to make my focus this holiday season. This Christmas is going to be so difficult. I just want to close my eyes and let it pass by without me. It seems so much easier than dealing with the pain of Hank's absence. It's funny how the absence of someone can take up so much space in a room.
Every year, the day after Thanksgiving, my house is decorated inside and out for Christmas. Even my kitchen and bathrooms are decorated. I love the lights and how my house feels with a Christmas tree lit up in the window. This year, it looks so different. No tree. No lights. No Christmas potholders. No peppermint candle burning. No Christmas wreaths or door mats. No Hank.
What should have been our first Christmas together, has turned into our first Christmas without him. And it is so, so hard not to focus on that huge absence of such a small little boy. But there is still thankfulness. I'm thankful for the time we did have together. Thankful for the precious look Hank gave me when he recognized my voice. Thankful for all that Jesus has taught me since he died, and how He has held me upright through this. I'm thankful for reasons to smile. Thankful for the picture my sister sent me of Hank's ornament on her tree. I'm thankful that even though I can't do that for him this year, that she made sure he was remembered at her house. I'm thankful for my family's patience and love as I struggle to keep on living without him. I'm thankful for the most wonderful, understanding husband. God could not have given me a better gift than him. I am thankful for new life, for eternal life, and for the hope that brings.
My hope is that no matter what your struggles are this holiday season, financial struggles, loneliness, loss, guilt, unhappiness, physical pain, or emotional pain..... that you find thankfulness and that it fills you.