Gratitude

One thing Kim started doing with our grandkids during bedtimes she was able to participate in, she called, "Their 'thankfuls.''" They really get into it. Hold up ten fingers, and count off 10 things to be thankful for, even on days that did not go that well. (Some days "I am thankful for Grandpa" even outranked, "I am thankful for my dogs." Some days, not.) It is not just for their benefit lol. Some days, adults need it more than the kids do. It is a time to take, even for a few minutes, to make sure there is acknowledgment that there is always good to be found, and there is always something ... even through the tears ... to say, "Thank You, God for ________."

Jesus valued the widow's mite (Mark 12) and the cup of water (Mark 9:4). That means that no matter how little I feel I have, I have something of value to offer. Small things are huge with God. (I am not saying there is not a place for grieving losses or that a person can never be sad, angry, or experience the wide range of emotion from going through awful things. Please do not do that to hurting, grieving people. This is to apply to home base, not to pass on to those who need to grieve.)

What does a person do when they have 120+ songs in terrible condition, and they find themselves paralyzed from the neck down, nonverbal, and unable to do more than sit? For me, I had to choose to believe that God still had a plan. He could heal me, or He could send others to do what I could not do. I knew that I knew that I knew He promised me in my heart of hearts He would use them to get people through very tough situations. I knew that I did not have a voice, but I did have recordings. I knew that I could not play a keyboard, but Kim could (and now, I have found I CAN chord with my left hand enough to get the job done, and I can sing just enough to show people how the song is supposed to go. They may not enjoy it, but it works ha, ha. And I can work each day to improve). I knew my brain was not always able to embrace software, but my son could. So many who could have helped me did not, but I am grateful God protected the songs in a way that was valuable to Him. Gratitude is sometimes choosing to look at the haves instead of the have-nots. Not looking at what I wish I could have or do, but finding the place God still left me something. It is realizing that if I have Him, it is enough.

Gratitude is not a pie-in-the-sky refusal to acknowledge suffering and how NOT fun it is. It is not something to shove down other people's throats like Job's friends, implying that where there is intense suffering, there is always some massive sin.  "Be grateful God is doing this to you, because it will make you better people." "Wow, you must have really done something bad." "When I feel like I am having a hard day, I am thankful I am not you." (Yes, people have actually said these things to us lol). Sometimes God  just wants things so extreme, there can be no doubt He is the one who did what is being done. Preparation and loss hurt. Rejection hurts. Being misjudged and misunderstood hurt. Betrayal hurts. When people you thought would believe you ... don't ... it hurts.  And it is okay to grieve that. But somehow in the depths of the worst things we can go through, we need to come down to that basic belief that God is exactly who He says He is. His faithfulness does not change. Even if the only thing I can find to be thankful for is breathing today, that is what I can do.

This song is my ode to gratefulness and what miracles God has done through what seemed like impossibilities.

To listen to it, click below: