We live in a society that is obsessed with more and always looking for the next best thing. While social media is a great tool, and even a joy or blessing in many circumstances, it has also stirred in humanity as a whole a spirit of discontent. We are constantly bombarded with images of seemingly picture perfect lives, beautifully curated content, and interesting new products that we think we need. With so much stuff constantly in front of our faces, it can be easy to fall into the mindset that our life, our homes, our clothes, our family, etc., etc. is not quite good enough.
It doesn’t help that life itself can be so very hard, as well. The current economic and political climate aside, life comes with difficulties and challenges, peaks and valleys that can shift our focus away from the good and onto the bad. How many of us have found ourselves in a moment of feeling as if the whole world is against us and we just didn’t know how to survive the attack? I know I have…
When we find ourselves comparing our seemingly lack-luster existence to someone else’s picture-perfect life, or simply find ourselves over burdened by life’s woes, there is a critical shift in mindset that can make all the difference.
Rather than focusing on what we don’t have, we can instead choose to see what we do have. Instead of dwelling on life’s hardships or disappointments, we can turn our eyes to all of the many blessings God has given us and give Him thanks in return.
I think a perfect example of this shift can be seen in the story of the first Thanksgiving. The Pilgrims came to the “New World” with such hope in their hearts for a better tomorrow. But immediately, they were faced with one challenge after another. By the spring of 1620, only months after landing at Plymouth Rock, more than half of the Pilgrims were dead. They would have, no doubt, faced total extinction without the help of two friendly, English-speaking Native Americans named Samoset and Squanto. Following the instructions of these men, the settlers were able to successfully plant and harvest crops and learned how to live off the land, and by 1621, the colony was thriving.
After bringing in a bountiful harvest in the fall of 1621, the Pilgrims wished to give thanks to God for providing for their needs in the midst of a difficult season and, as the story goes, they invited their Native American friends to take part in a celebratory feast. They didn’t have to choose to give thanks. They could have focused on the fact that more than half the people that sailed on the Mayflower with them didn’t survive the first few months in North America. They could have blamed God for their suffering and dwelled on the ongoing difficulties they faced, even after receiving the natives’ help.
But, in the face of great hardship and loss, they chose to give thanks to God.
Friends, there is so much darkness in this world that we could easily walk around with a depressed, anxious, and discontent spirit every day if we wanted to. But there is also so much beauty to be found in this life God has granted us! Indeed, I believe there is actually more good to be found than the bad!
This is something I have thought about a lot in the past year or so. Are there things about my life circumstances I would change if given the option? Yeah, there is. Are there dreams and goals I haven’t yet achieved or promises that have yet to be fulfilled. Absolutely!
But when I stop and look at the life I live, I have so very much to be thankful for!
There are the obvious things like health, safety, a roof over my head, food to eat, a loving husband and family. But let’s take it a step further and get more specific with some actual things I’ve been thankful for recently:
- Serving on our church’s youth committee. I wanted to do youth ministry from the time I was a little girl tagging along with my youth pastor parents, and here I am doing exactly that!
- Our youth committee friends, because there was a day when I felt completely friendless outside of having my husband and family, and now I’m surrounded by incredible friends and spending time with them every week as we serve God’s Kingdom together.
- Laughing with those committee friends over silly inside jokes that no one else would understand even if I tried to explain them.
- Connecting with young people and having an opportunity to have a real conversation with them about what they are dealing with in their lives.
- Curling up in my favorite chair to read a book in the house my grandparents used to live in, but now my husband and I call it home.
- Going to the new bookstore down the road from my house to write on my Friday afternoons off work.
- Riding on the golf cart with my husband around our neighborhood in the evenings, watching the sunset, and breathing the fresh air.
- A random message from my husband in the middle of the work day to let me know he misses me.
- Serving food at our church’s annual Chili/Charro Bean Cook-off because it meant I got to talk to everyone who was there at least once.
- Seeing my church family all spread out across our church property at the cook-off, knowing that not so long ago the beautiful building at my back didn’t exist and at least half of the people in front of me weren’t a part of our church yet.
You see, God’s blessings aren’t just limited to the big things in life, and they aren’t hindered by whatever difficulties we might be facing during a particular season. His blessings can be found in even the tiniest of details, the simplest of moments of our everyday life. Though they may appear mundane on the surface, if you look closer, you’ll see they are actually infinitely precious jewels that remind us of His great love.
In preparing for this article, I was reminded of what the Apostle Paul said in Philippians 4:11-12:
“Not that I speak in respect of want: for I have learned, in whatsoever state I am, therewith to be content. I know both how to be abased, and I know how to abound: every where and in all things I am instructed both to be full and to be hungry, both to abound and to suffer need.”
When I looked up this passage of Scripture to include it in my article, I took note of the fact that the oft-quoted “I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me” verse comes immediately after it. Keeping within the context of verses 11 and 12, I believe we can take this next verse to mean that, with His strength, we can be content and give thanks in all circumstances.
Life doesn’t have to be perfect or easy in order for us to be thankful. Like the Pilgrims, and like the Apostle Paul, we can choose to shift our hearts and minds away from the negative and toward a spirit of gratitude for all the good God has done for us. Because in every season, there really is a reason to give Him thanks. And when we give God praise for what He’s done, He will give us the strength to keep moving forward.
Photo by Erika Andrade
