A Thankful Heart
"Gratitude makes sense of our past, brings peace for today, & vision for tomorrow."
This month forces us to pause & reflect on all the blessings we've been given. Some years come & go with an abundance of good things, & some years leave us wishing we could slam the door on it & never look back. No life is untouched by pain in some form. And if we're really honest, the idea of being thankful all the time seems impossible. It's much easier to complain about the things happening to us & around us. In fact, we actually enjoy complaining. I've called it "venting", & I usually feel much better after exploding all my complaints onto someone else.
But here's the deal, complaining is negativity, & negativity will destroy anything in it's path if it's left unchecked. It's not meant to elevate, sustain, or promote. It's used as a weapon to do just the opposite. Sure, I can have bad days & "vent" or wallow in my situation. Then, I can also pick myself up & be grateful for the good things I'm still allowed to enjoy. All the blessings I've been given over the course of my life are to be celebrated. In reality, they make up more of my life than all the things I can complain about.
My husband likes to play the positive side in all situations. Over the course of our marriage, any problem or crisis we've encountered he's met head on with a ray of sunshine. It drives me CRAZY. Like, "Is this real life?" crazy. I don't get it, I don't understand it, but I WANT that mindset. It's so hard for me to look past all of the bad to find that little sliver of good like he can. I know he's my soulmate, because he pushes me to be thankful. He loves me enough to listen to me whine, (get you a man who can listen to you whine sometimes.) and then pushes me to be thankful for all the things that ARE good, or all the things that DID go right.
I can't be thankful in all situations immediately. It's not my nature. But even though my thankfulness may have to be forced, it may have to be nurtured, it may even have to be pulled out by someone else's wisdom at times, I will choose to have a thankful heart. To let the rhythm of my life be one of gratitude. I may get off beat or speed up & slow down, and that's okay! The heart always finds a way to steady itself. Not just in November, but in all seasons. I can't be perfect, but I CAN do better.
