There’s so much in life we take for
granted as we go about our daily lives.
Until something stops us in our tracks and makes us take notice.
November 4th was an
ordinary day that stopped me in my tracks.
My husband collapsed and had to be life-flighted to Sioux Falls. The fear, uncertainty and confusion of those
first few days really put in focus what’s important. Those days showed me just how often I take
the many blessings I have in my life for granted.
A few days before, I would almost
carelessly kiss my husband goodbye before I went out to do some visits or to go
to a meeting. Suddenly the memory of
that morning’s kiss became precious. The
simple act of making lunch for him that afternoon was transformed from chore to
gift.
I had a lot of time to think sitting at his bedside
about all the things I had to be thankful for:
our life together, our children; the
myriad little things that make life full of joy – a crispy starry winter night,
a sunset, our pets; the congregations
who have called me to be their pastor and the wonderful communities which
welcomed us and now showed so much love and support in our time of crisis; the EMT’s and paramedics, doctors and nurses
and all the hospital personnel who gave my husband such good care.
Fear and confusion gave way to
giving thanks for the smallest improvement - that he started responding to
pain, that he opened his eyes, that he was able to talk, that he began to regain
strength.
I had a lot of time on my hands,
sitting at his bedside. I passed the
night watches reading. I had just
starting reading “The Year of Living Biblically; one man’s humble quest to
follow the Bible as literally as possible.”
One of the things that really stood out to me was his encounters with
giving thanks. He had been raised in a non-practicing Jewish
family and had never really prayed before.
So he found daily prayer difficult and awkward. There were two kinds of prayer that worked
really well for him – praying for other people, and praying for his
blessings.
As he began to daily give thanks,
he noticed that he became “obsessed with gratefulness.” He began giving thanks for the smallest, most
ordinary, things. That his wife left the
door unlocked and he didn’t need to dig for his keys. That his young son was sitting on the floor,
eating pineapple. He says, “I’m actually
muttering to myself, ‘Thank you….thank you…thank you….’ It’s an odd way to live. But also kind of
great and powerful. I’ve never been so
aware of thousands of little good things, the thousands of things that go right
each day.”
That resonated with me, sitting at
my husband’s bedside, giving thanks for each breath he took. These last few weeks for me have been
emotionally draining, even terrifying at times.
But they have also been curiously filled with thanks.
Was it that thanks that got me
though?
In the Bible, there are Psalms of lament. These are songs of deep anguish, heartbroken
cries to God. Songs that contain the
most desolate of human emotions. But something curious happens at the end of
those laments. These psalms end in
praise and thanksgiving – an outpouring of trust in God, the giver of
blessings. It’s like the psalmist is
saying, “God, I have seen your many gifts to me, your outpouring of grace and
mercy in the past. And I also know that
someday I will be able to thank you again, no matter what I am going through
now. So I’m going to start thanking you
right now.” For the psalmist, giving
thanks is an act of faith.
Last week, I was reminded of the
mission trip to Nicaragua I went on last summer. The
people I met had very little in the way of material things. But they had absolute confidence in God’s
loving care and daily blessing in their lives.
Is that what it looks like to live as the Apostle Paul teaches us in 1 Thessalonians 5:16-18 “Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, give thanks in all
circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.”
We’re at the time of the year that
we focus on giving thanks. After all,
today is Thanksgiving. But what if we
practiced Thanksgiving every day? What if we lived in a way where we are
continually aware of all our blessings, big and small, going around muttering, “Thank
you…thank you…thank you”?
What if we took time every day to
notice all those blessings we normally take for granted?
I pray for God’s blessings to you
and your family on this day of Thanksgiving.
No comments:
Post a Comment