Choosing to Give Thanks–Even in the Hard Things

In everything give thanks, for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.”

That verse from 1 Thessalonians 5:18 often trips people up and makes them want to argue instead of give thanks.

“God can’t possibly mean for me to be thankful for _________________ (feel free to fill in your own blank.)

But that’s not what the verse says, it refers to everything, without a disclaimer or an asterisk.

I’ve pondered that verse a lot over the years and have come to appreciate it because of what obedience to that verse does to me. And maybe to you.

I’ve often been trapped in a situation, grumbling, complaining, arguing about fairness and feeling downright surly, only to have that little tiny verse slip in one ear, dash across my forehead and flit out the other side.

“In everything give thanks.”

Can you turn the prism and look at this slightly differently? Can you see this as not a “shame on you for not being thankful,” but as an opportunity to stretch your imagination? Can you take a step back from the circumstance and maybe catch a broader view?

That may sound easy for me to say because I’m not grappling with the same issues you are–and I respect the challenges you are facing.

But challenges, difficulties, death, illness, misery, anguish and shame are part of every day life. The gradients may be different but we all get to places where it just feels like “Enough. I hate this.”

But in every thing give thanks.

How?

By looking beyond the circumstances to what you can be genuinely thankful for.

It starts with a begruding, “Okay, Lord, what on earth can I be thankful for in this situation?”

If you cultivate an attitude of, “There must be something in here somewhere I can thank God for,” it becomes a little easier.

And here’s the trick: once you start; once you find that first thing, you often can find a second. Your imagination may be rebelling, but if you push it you might find a third. By then your list of things to be thankful for may be as wizened and measly as a dead potato, but you’ve got three and oddly enough, your spirt lifts.

It may only lift .5mm, but a little bit helps and makes the challenge just a fraction lighter.

That, I believe, is the value of giving thanks in everything.

I have arthritis in the base of my thumbs. Three years ago I could not use scissors, the pain was so great. I couldn’t ride a bike because of the pressure on the base of the thumb. Turnings doorknobs was misery. The pots in my kitchen are too heavy for me to lift with one hand. I couldn’t work the manual can opener.

I found this particularly ironic since I’ve never taken my hands for granted. I’ve thanked God countless times for nimble fingers that can sew, quilt, cook, garden, type, help, fold, make and manipulate. Mine have been work hands and I’ve savored the activities.

Did I mention I’m a musician?

Painful. All of them. I didn’t even realize how I had withdrawn from activities because my subconscious knew my hands would hurt.

Be thankful in everything.

My sense of who I am was bound up in what I could do. Martha was my favorite; Mary never made any sense. Suddenly, I couldn’t do many of things I pulled off effortlessly in the past.

After I finished sulking, I decided I needed to choose to be thankful in my present (and now forever) situation. I had to find things to be thankful for, and remain focused on them. The verse says IN everything, not FOR everything. So, in the midst of this debilitating situation, I’m choosing to be thankful, no matter what.

Here is a list of just some of the things I’ve cultivated to be thankful for about my handicap.

I am thankful

*I live in a time of adaptive tools and we have the resources to purchase them.

*I’ve had young men willing to work in the yard with me; who’ve taken my instruction in good stead and done what I need–and only pulled me out of the tree with a saw a couple times.

* I can still type and most of the time play my clarinet without much pain.

*I can do exercises which strengthen my core, send blood to my hands and relax them–when I remember.

*The body of Christ is described as a body with many parts. No part is better than another. I don’t have to be the hands anymore, I can be a different part and my contribution is still valuable.

*I’m more sympathetic to people whose physical skills are diminishing.

*God can use what I have to bring, no matter what it is.

The list continues, but can you see how it started–what small practical things can I be thankful for, despite how I feel?

I’m going to buy copies of Pollyanna this Christmas and share them–that little girl, given so much lip for her sacchrine attitude, was on to something.

Stretch your imagination. Find things to be thankful for in your cirumstances.

You’ll feel better for it.

Am I missing something? How else do you find ways to be thankful in difficulties?