Thankful

Recently I came across this someecard on Facebook. I love someecards mainly because I have a very sarcastic and somewhat dry sense of humor. This card however did not make me laugh but instead it made me stop and think. You see every year I give myself the task of being thankful for 30 days. I give myself this task that I might see beyond myself and my circumstances. I do it publicly to be accountable because lets face it, who does not like a good pity party. As I pondered the ecard, I began to wonder...am I ungrateful? Do I complain for the majority of the year only to be thankful for 30 days? It made me think about my own heart attitude. 

This November I have found it difficult at times to be thankful. I have struggled some days to think of something that I am thankful for. It seems like life is full of hills and valleys. It is easy to live with a grateful heat when you are living in triumph or are on top of the world, conversely it is difficult in the midst of struggle to see the wonder and joy around you. I struggle often times with this emotional blindness that makes me feel and possibly seem ungrateful.

As I pondered these things further, I began to wonder, does the presence of struggle, anxiety, heartache, frustration and the like negate thankfulness? Can you be real about your emotions and where you are at in life and still live out your days as a person who is grateful for all that the Lord has done? I think the answer is yes. The Bible does not tell us that we have to be happy all of the time, in fact it is full of accounts of people who are very much not happy. The Bible does however command us to give thanks. "Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you. "- 1 Thessalonians 5:16-19 ESV As I thought all month about my personal thankfulness challenge and the fact that honestly I did not feel thankful sometimes, I began to wonder about verses like the one in 1 Thessalonians. Why does God call us to give thanks for ALL things, doesn't he know that some things are hard? Each day that I was thankful I began to struggle more. Life began to hand me more and more challenges. Personal, financial, physical....but I had started the month of being thankful and I was going to finish!! Each day as I thought about what I had to praise God for, the struggles seemed to be less insurmountable. I began to think "if I have so much to be thankful for then surely God will hear and answer me in my current distress." In the days that followed I also began to trust God's goodness even if he did not answer every distress call immediately or how I think he should. Each day of faithfulness to the goal I set for myself, the more my outlook changed and the easier it was to make it through each day. A very wise friend of mine said to me once, that depression can be diminished by being thankful. She told me that writing down 375 things you are thankful for can lessen depression considerably. After only finding thirty thankful things and feeling much better about some pretty challenging life trials, I think she may be on to something. God knows that here in this world that is sinful and broken we will not find hope if we do not look to him. God knows that if our hearts are focused on situations and the brokenness of the world and those around us our hope will fail. I believe that is why he commands us to be thankful. God is so amazing that not only does he provide for our physical needs but he also provides for our emotional needs.