So, Here’s the Thing: Being Thankful

So, here’s the thing…

Gratitude is worship. Click To Tweet

Being thankful should be easy this time of year, right?

It’s November. The month of Thanksgiving. THANKSGIVING.

I should be giving thanks, but I’m just not feeling it.

How about you?

My blog is foundering. Words just run away from me. Depression… blah.

For someone who preaches the importance of gratitude, I often do a lousy job at practicing.

 But maybe instead of disqualifying me from being someone to tell others about how much it helps a bad, sad, negative attitude, it equips me.

Maybe instead of disqualifying me, my lack equips me. Click To Tweet

I’m struggling. What do I have to say that I haven’t said before? And what have I said that others aren’t saying better?

The internet is a writhing mass of information. Overwhelming. Do I really have anything meaningful to add? I don’t want to just add to the overwhelming NOISE.

If what I have to say is worth saying, can it find the audience for whom it is useful?

Blogging is exhausting. Further complicating the whole time-consuming, emotion-draining writing and second-guessing is this fact: I need to generate income. If I can’t do it writing about what I care about, I need to spend more of my limited writing time writing stuff people will pay me (a little) for.

Rock. Hard place.

We’re stuck.

And I’m fed up with being stuck.

 So, what do I expect God to say through me as my attitude toward Him lately is too often, “Seriously?!?”?

No tragedies. No one is horribly sick or dying. We’re not homeless. We never have to worry about food to eat. We’re not persecuted for our faith.

I’m just exhausted.

And we’re stuck.

I always hated those little plastic puzzles you had to slide the panels around to make the picture. I was never any good at them. Now I live in one. And the problem is there isn’t even a whole square empty to move a piece into.

Stuck.

What can I do from here that can help YOU?

The same thing I always do when confronted with the lie that I’m too broken to help anyone. I’m sitting down at my computer and putting it out there.

My mood? Not so great. My attitude? Rather lousy. My outlook? Bleh.

The psalmists did it. So can I.

God doesn’t mind when we pour out our emotions, our frustrations, our doubts. We should take Him our questions, not try to hide them from Him. When we take time to honestly tell Him how we’re feeling, we give Him attention. Paying attention makes space for Him to show us where our perspective is skewed, and open our eyes to our blind spots.

For me, writing does this.

Typing here or writing in one of my notebooks slows me down.

Yes, our minds are much faster than our fingers.

Seeing the words in front of me weakens the power of the negative, and strengthens the positive. My thoughts are brought out into the light. And Truth is easier to see.

Many of the psalms follow this pattern!

Lord, things are hard. I don’t understand. I am broken and bleeding. 

BUT…

You are faithful. I will choose to trust You. Your timing is not mine, but it is perfect.

From the depths I will thank You and wait for Your deliverance.

 

Being thankful

This gratitude thing is vitally important.

• Expressing our gratitude to God is an act of worship.
• Thinking about what we have to be thankful for opens our eyes to more.
• Focusing on being thankful short circuits dark thoughts.

We can never be satisfied if we’re not thankful for what we have.

When we’re at the point that the best we can do is choose obedience, that’s what we need to do. Our hearts will follow.

Rejoice always, pray continually, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.

1 Thessalonians 5:16-18, NIV

 The psalmists did it, so can I: Express my pain. Reiterate my trust. Choose gratitude. Click To Tweet

Are you struggling with being thankful? I’d love to pray for you. Reply below!

For a beautiful, challenging look at gratitude and establishing it as a moment-by-moment habit, I can’t recommend Ann Voskamp‘s One Thousand Gifts enough.