On the way to thankfulness

In the midst of a difficult season in Delhi, I remembered Ann Voskamp’s One Thousand Gifts: A Dare to Live Fully Right Where You Are.  And started a gratefulness journal. I numbered big and small reasons to give thanks. 

Making a list

1. The washing machine worked today. After a week of no wash.

2. Mangoes—juicy and sweet

3. Laughter with friends, Mindy & Robert

4. Monsoon rains bringing relief from the heat

5. You are the God of endurance and encouragement and You are the God of HOPE (Rom 15:5,13)

On the way to thankfulness

A funny thing happened on the way to thankfulness. I started seeing again. I started watching for wonder. My ears heard the birds sing. I laughed at the details revealed just through intentionally giving thanks. And the clamor of anxious thoughts, of the unfinished, of expectations unmet? The fear of the unknown? It quieted in the wake of practicing thanksgiving.

Challenged
to give thanks
in the richness,
in the poverty,
in the blue sky clarity,
in the grey cloud smudges.
To say “Yes, Lord”
when I’m awake at 3
and heavy thoughts
tumble in,
reckless fears
crashing into
my trust in You.
To bow in worship
when it’s clockwork
and when all seems to
unravel.
Regardless.
No matter what.
Thank You, Father,
in midstream,
in the moment,
now.

[susan lynn lafferty]

Intentional thankfulness

I’m not daily keeping a list now, but something about that season of intentionally looking for His gifts changed me. If I find myself dwelling on the past or thinking too hard about the what if’s, I remember this discipline. Or His Word reminds me. Then I open my eyes and give thanks for the multiple specifics around me that speak of the Lord God Most High and His attention to personal details.

How about you?

Stop. Look around. Listen. What are 3-5 things you thank God for today? The big. The small. Speak them aloud. Write them down.  Breathe.

“And let the peace of Christ, to which you were also called in one body, rule your hearts. And be thankful.
Let the word of Christ dwell richly among you, in all wisdom teaching and admonishing one another through psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs, singing to God
with gratitude in your hearts.
And whatever you do, in word or in deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.”
Colossians 3:15-17