Reason #265
There's something about this fall. Something about this season. I'm amazed. Each season gets increasingly better. Each season has brought with it such incredible surprises. Just when I think it can't get any better, it does. Just when I think I couldn't possibly experience more joy, I'm proved wrong.
Perspective. Everything has to do with perspective, with the way you look at things. Glass half empty, glass half full. When life gives you lemons, make lemonade. You've heard the sayings. It's true. We have a choice in how we view things, our lives especially. There isn't much you can control in life, but you can control your reactions. And so you walk through something difficult and you have a choice of how you will react. You can be bitter, you can be angry, and you can be resentful. Some times, it appears that you may have every right to feel that way. But you also have a choice to be grateful. Grateful for the circumstance, no. But, you can be grateful because of what God has done from the circumstances.
This is where I find myself. A strange spot to be, truthfully. Not strange to be grateful, but strange in how my gratitude came about. I learned to quit taking things for granted. I learned to quit expecting things or feeling entitled. Because truth be told, until I was brought to my knees in desperation, I took life for granted. Big things, little things, it didn't really matter. As long as things were going well, I was grateful. But I have found that I didn't really ever understand true gratitude until now.
But I suppose that's the way things go. We are never grateful for our health until we've experienced sickness and been healed. We're never grateful for our homes until we lose everything in a fire and have to start over from square one. We're never grateful for loved ones until we spend too long of a time away from them and are eventually reunited. We're never grateful for our jobs until our company makes cuts and we finally land a job after searching high and low for one. We simply forget to be grateful. And so we spend a little time in the valley and that's where we learn true gratitude. In the shadows, in the wandering and the total dependency, we begin to quit taking things for granted and we learn to be grateful for any little ray of sunshine we can get. More than anything, we become grateful for any second chance or opportunity that we are afforded because we now realize what it looks like from the other side. Ironic that total devastation can bring about incredible amounts of joy and gratitude, huh?
So this is me. Grateful because of what I've been through. Grateful for it, not necessarily. But grateful for everything that has transpired and is transpiring due to it. I never really thought I'd be on this side of it. I never really thought I'd be to a point where I could truly thank the Lord for allowing me to walk such a difficult path. But I've learned a lot between now and then, seen both sides, and just like everything, because of what I experienced I am more grateful now than ever. Because you're never really grateful for a healed heart until yours has been broken and bound back together. And it's amazing what a pieced together heart can feel and see. Gratitude for all things, big and small. Things you never expected, things that exceed anything you imagined, and things that really help make those bound together pieces a little more complete.
#265 - Because He has taught me the real meaning of gratitude as He's allowed me to experience both sides.
"Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, since as members of one body you were called to peace. And be thankful. Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly as you teach and admonish one another with all wisdom, and as you sing psalms, hymns and spiritual songs with gratitude in your hearts to God. And whatever you do, whether in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him." - Colossians 3:15-17
Perspective. Everything has to do with perspective, with the way you look at things. Glass half empty, glass half full. When life gives you lemons, make lemonade. You've heard the sayings. It's true. We have a choice in how we view things, our lives especially. There isn't much you can control in life, but you can control your reactions. And so you walk through something difficult and you have a choice of how you will react. You can be bitter, you can be angry, and you can be resentful. Some times, it appears that you may have every right to feel that way. But you also have a choice to be grateful. Grateful for the circumstance, no. But, you can be grateful because of what God has done from the circumstances.
This is where I find myself. A strange spot to be, truthfully. Not strange to be grateful, but strange in how my gratitude came about. I learned to quit taking things for granted. I learned to quit expecting things or feeling entitled. Because truth be told, until I was brought to my knees in desperation, I took life for granted. Big things, little things, it didn't really matter. As long as things were going well, I was grateful. But I have found that I didn't really ever understand true gratitude until now.
But I suppose that's the way things go. We are never grateful for our health until we've experienced sickness and been healed. We're never grateful for our homes until we lose everything in a fire and have to start over from square one. We're never grateful for loved ones until we spend too long of a time away from them and are eventually reunited. We're never grateful for our jobs until our company makes cuts and we finally land a job after searching high and low for one. We simply forget to be grateful. And so we spend a little time in the valley and that's where we learn true gratitude. In the shadows, in the wandering and the total dependency, we begin to quit taking things for granted and we learn to be grateful for any little ray of sunshine we can get. More than anything, we become grateful for any second chance or opportunity that we are afforded because we now realize what it looks like from the other side. Ironic that total devastation can bring about incredible amounts of joy and gratitude, huh?
So this is me. Grateful because of what I've been through. Grateful for it, not necessarily. But grateful for everything that has transpired and is transpiring due to it. I never really thought I'd be on this side of it. I never really thought I'd be to a point where I could truly thank the Lord for allowing me to walk such a difficult path. But I've learned a lot between now and then, seen both sides, and just like everything, because of what I experienced I am more grateful now than ever. Because you're never really grateful for a healed heart until yours has been broken and bound back together. And it's amazing what a pieced together heart can feel and see. Gratitude for all things, big and small. Things you never expected, things that exceed anything you imagined, and things that really help make those bound together pieces a little more complete.
#265 - Because He has taught me the real meaning of gratitude as He's allowed me to experience both sides.
"Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, since as members of one body you were called to peace. And be thankful. Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly as you teach and admonish one another with all wisdom, and as you sing psalms, hymns and spiritual songs with gratitude in your hearts to God. And whatever you do, whether in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him." - Colossians 3:15-17
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