Lately, I have been writing a lot of thank you notes. With graduation and influential teachers not to mention helping my sister write her baby shower thank you notes. It wasn't until tonight when I was writing thank you notes to a few very special people that it truly dawned on me: I have a lot to be grateful for! I always hated the phrase "count your blessings" because I thought 1. how cliche is that and 2. not all of us are such optimists but now I'm starting to think that maybe its on to something and it just needs to be rephrased. So here is my rephrasing – live in gratitude.
God has absolutely spoiled me! There is such abundance in my life! I am surrounded and engulfed by people who adore me. He has met and exceeded my every need. He has given me people who amaze me, more "things" than I could ever use, and more experiences than I could ever have want of. He has provided me ample opportunity to learn life's lessons and the intellect to process such lessons. He has lead me to my dream school and worked miracles in getting me there. And I have more families than most people have friends. As I am writing these thank you notes, I cannot help but to be grateful, to remember all the blessings that are embedded in my life. The more I remember, the more grateful I become until I find myself even grateful that two of the most important people in my life are pregnant and therefore crazy. (No, really.)
However, I also see that other people are struggling. Close friends of mine are struggling. I do not believe that they have been less blessed, that they have less to be grateful for. Nor do I believe that they aren't trying to look at it the right way or from the right perspective. I see my own struggles and complaints. Even in the midst of all this goodness, I still struggle, I still don't enjoy the fact that I have two very pregnant ladies who are crazy. But I still am living in gratitude.
You see, when I hear "count your blessings" what I really hear is "yeah, yeah, yeah – so you got it tough, look at the bright side and just ignore all the other crap." I believe it is some kind of unspoken connotation. That, my friends, is not counting your blessings, nor is it living in gratitude. People mistakenly believe that liking something and being grateful for something have to go hand in hand. As if we are only grateful for a gift if it is something we want. But this shouldn't be the case at all. Gratitude should be felt and expressed for all sweaters, the awesome cashmere ones that make us look awesome as well as the hideous from-the-thrift-store-for-two-dollars ones. Gratitude occurs when we realize that regardless of results, someone had the intention of blessing us, of loving us. It is born when our hearts realize that someone has thought of us, specifically.
So how do you live in gratitude? The reality is, I only know of one way. We become grateful when we dwell within the Lord's heart. From this place we can experience the ups (like graduation) and the downs (like relinquished dreams) while living in gratitude. As our hearts intertwine themselves with the Lord's, we begin to see how He wants us to see. We begin to accept that all experiences have their purpose. Ultimately, in living with the Lord, our heart grows and in that growth we become more and more aware of all that we have been given.
So count your blessings or live in gratitude, it's a content place of existence.
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