Jo Saxton

Being thankful is a discipline. We discipline ourselves to take time to say thank you to God when things are going well and it’s easy to be thankful. We must also discipline ourselves to choose to say thank you when things aren’t going well. There is always something to be thankful for.

I know we have all been in a situation where we have struggled to find something to be thankful for. On one particular Friday evening, I found myself sitting in the Emergency Room, holding a crying, scared Ben in my arms. He had just fallen face first into the coffee table, which resulted in oral trauma, which is how the nurses labeled him.

As I sat in that emergency room, waiting our turn, I heard God ask what I was thankful for. I wanted to scream I was so frustrated, but instead I chose to stop and think. I was thankful my parents could watch Liam, while we raced off to the hospital with Ben. I was thankful Ben’s injury was not life threatening. I was thankful he didn’t need stitches and hadn’t lost any teeth. I was thankful God’s created me to be a pretty even keel person, so I could remain calm and help Ben and my husband remain calm. And so I sat thinking of my list, feeling pretty pathetic about some of the small things I was thankful for, but realizing these small things led to larger things that I was thankful for.

I soon began to observe my attitude had changed. I was no longer as scared and frightened, but more able to trust that God was in control. He knew the day I had just lived. He knew what I needed right then. I was thankful He could meet my every need, Ben’s every need, my family’s every need. I had become genuinely thankful.

Being thankful is a discipline. The more you practice being thankful, the sooner you’ll catch yourself not being thankful the next time.

Reflection:

Where are you right now? Are you enjoying life?

Have you stopped to thank God for what he has given you today?

Maybe your situation is one you don’t feel thankful for. Will you choose to stop and think of what you could be thankful for?

Maybe your situation feels so raw at the minute you can’t feel anything. Wherever you are, choose to turn your focus onto Christ and listen to what He is saying to you.

Below are some scriptures to start you on your journey towards an attitude of thankfulness:

• 1 Cor 1:9
• Hebrews 7:25
• Romans 8:34
• Psalms 75:3; 34:18; 55:22; 139; 103; 147