When you look up the words gratitude and thankfulness in the dictionary, it says that they mean essentially the same thing… “a feeling of appreciation or gratefulness for something good that has happened or that you have received;” it also defines them as a “positive emotion expressing thanks for something in your life, often directed towards someone who has done something kind for you.”
It’s easy and right to be thankful when something good or positive happens in your life. A few weeks ago, the doctor performed a biopsy of my cheek because I have two lumps that grew out of nowhere. When he called me a few days later to tell me they were both benign, I naturally felt grateful that it wasn’t cancer. Erik and I just came back from a 5 day vacation to Dominican Republic. We had a great time and I am so thankful that we got to take time off from work and spend a few days just relaxing and enjoying the beach far away from the snow that fell where we live. When someone gives you flowers or a gift…you can’t help feeling grateful. In fact, when good things happen in our lives, gratitude is easy.
But for many people who are going through a difficult time, gratitude is hard. Getting a diagnosis of cancer or some other life altering illness, losing people you love to death, drugs or whatever other horror life can throw at you. Not being able to find work or make ends meet. All those things are hard and so is feeling thankfulness or gratitude when you are experiencing them.
The holidays are not easy for everyone. We lost two nephews back to back right around the holidays (December 31 and January 29). I can honestly tell you that going through that was life altering. Not only because of how tragic and unexpected both deaths were; both boys were in their twenties and one was a brand new father. But because it shifts your perspective and the way you process difficult things.
I remember going to church on January 29, 2023 instead of to the baby shower we had planned for our grandson’s upcoming birth. It was supposed to be a good day after not even a month of grief. But instead, I’m sitting in a pew at church in tears….I’m angry, shocked…scared…confused…In fact, I’m feeling everything but thankful and grateful.
Then worship starts and I can honestly say that through all the pain and the tears and the hurt, I know deep in my heart that God is there with me. Worship can be so cathartic like that. I feel God’s presence and I hear His words and I know that somehow it will be okay. That even though it hurts like H.E.L.L….it’s going to be ok.
Psalm 50:14 says, “Make thankfulness your sacrifice to God, and keep the vows you made to the Most High” (KJV). How can thankfulness be a sacrifice when the dictionary defines it as a feeling or an emotion? I think it has everything to do with “surrendering” our pain, our circumstances, our hurt to God. That’s the sacrifice we give to Him. I’ve been a Christian for over 20 years, and I know that there are a lot of things I have no control over. I am so thankful that I can surrender them to God and that He will carry me through them all.
I can think of countless things to be grateful for. For the air in my lungs or the fact that I woke up this morning. For the people I’ve had the privilege to love and lose. Maintain your thankfulness even through those difficult times and you will find that you have so much to be grateful for.