Unconventional Gratitude
It's easy to be grateful when everything goes according to plan, but what happens when you're met with trouble? Naturally, gratitude gets sucked out rather than poured out, but let me render this thought for a moment. What would happen if you give thanks in spite of it?
For one, it will be difficult to swallow the bitterness and give thanks in lieu of raging out and complaining. I admit that, but I strongly believe having an attitude of gratitude shifts perspective and creates a better environment internally and externally.
God calls us to a live a life of thanksgiving no matter the circumstances (1 Thess. 5:15-18). I believe that it develops our character to be more Christ-like, and isn't that the goal?
In the summer of 2016, my car was broken into two days after coming back from an inspiring and uplifting conference in Florida—talk about battles in the valley right after coming back from the mountain.
To my surprise, I still had a lot of my valuables. I was only missing the change in my console save for the three pennies they left behind, my portable charger, and my aux chord and iPhone head jack adapter. So, in comparison to people like my friend whose stereo was stolen, I was fortunate.
Despite my car being broken into a few days after a great trip to Florida, I chose to be grateful. I looked at my situation and I knew I was better off than most people who lost more than a car window to break-ins and I thanked God for everything good that I still had.
I absolutely believe I could not have reacted that way on my own. It was by God's grace that is sufficient for me, His strength that is perfect in my weakness, and His peace that transcends all understanding. I can honestly tell you, my immediate reaction after confusion was peace and gratitude. Pretty unconventional in the eyes of society's standards of gratitude.
My point is this, we have been blessed with so much. Why waste time crying over things that could easily be replaced. Instead, I counted my blessings. There are more things to be thankful for that far outweigh the bad.
As I sat in my car, I remembered the Holocaust Memorial in Miami that I had the privilege of visiting. I remembered the large statue of a hand composed of smaller statues of victims of the Holocaust. I remember looking into the faces of those statues, and in that moment of remembrance, I was so thankful that I was never in their shoes. There are worse things than losing a few goods.
As I reflected on the hauntingly, heart-wrenching, but artistic portrayal of oppression, pain, loss, heartache, and hopelessness at the memorial, I realized that despite overcoming World War II we still live in a really broken, hurting, and dying world.
There are people who are desperate for a hand to hold, for love to be given, and for so many other things we inherently need as human beings that sometimes it pushes them to do hurtful things. I don't know who broke into my car and I don't know if they're hurting or just greedy, but I do know that Jesus loves them just as much as He loves me.
My point in telling this story is not to show how well I reacted to having my car broken into because if I'm being honest, every other troublesome event I experienced thereafter was not met with the same grace.
My point is to show that when I took a breath and let the peace of God fill my heart and I counted my blessings rather than my losses three distinct things happened:
My level of stress was practically zero
I experienced an awareness of how good my life was despite what happened—perspective shift
I was challenged to be a better version of myself
Be unconventional when it comes to gratitude. Don't let good circumstances be the only reason you give thanks. Show the world that there are better ways to react than in anger or spite.
What are you thankful for?