Gratitude

Because I am lazy and don't want to recreate an entire other post, I am going to rip my own thoughts from my own blog to share with you guys. The Father has just been showing me some incredible lessons in joy and gratitude and I think it's something we all need to hear. Even in our times at iforty, we have been talking about how to start a fire and how we can step out of ourselves to be light for the LORD. He is so incredibly faithful to us, even those of us who are starving college students and new graduates just let loose into the world. We have so much to be thankful for.

Here is the"ripped" post and video . . .

Happy Thanksgiving!
We live in a culture of instant gratification. At the touch of a button, snap of our fingers or swipe of our credit card we can obtain our hearts desire in an instant. We eat fast food, have high speed internet, have stores and restaurants open 24 hours a day and don't even have to watch commercials anymore with the brilliance that is TiVo. Our cell phones are a crucial part of our existence next to food, water, and shelter. I mean think about it, when was the last time you misplaced or accidentally left your cell phone at home or in the car. You panicked didn't you? Afraid you might miss that important call or text message. And with all of these things come the inevitable moans, groans, and complaints. The internet isn't fast enough, this store didn't have the exact thing I wanted, I had to wait in line, my food was cold and it took way too long, that person in front of me is driving way too slow, etc etc etc. We are an impatient, complaining, and often ungrateful race. Something has been lost in the chaos of what we want and what we actually need. Patience is unheard of, time - a concept to be rushed through.

Just the other day, I found myself ending my work day frustrated, stressed out and agitated because the server at work was crawling, setting me behind by several hours and making my work take three times as long. I came home last night in a foul mood, complaining and really wishing I had something to hit or yell at. (Being that my last entry was on choosing joy, perhaps I shouldn't be admitting my impatient moodiness? Hmmm . . . oh well it's about being real isn't it?) That night as I stood in line at Wal-Mart with my measly box of cereal and turkey bacon, I found myself silently grumbling because I was stuck behind the slowest and most incompetent person alive at the self check-out. The lady at the register next to me was on her cell phone, barking orders at her young child and complaining to a friend on the phone about how she hated the Holidays, as she was being forced to cook food for her family and worst of all her in-laws. Then there was the man behind me, even more impatient than I, loudly sighing, as if to announce to the whole of Wal-Mart that he was pissed and someone better hurry up and get out of his way. The air was crackling with tension, shot nerves, and impatience.

I arrived home that night exhausted, pissed off, and tied up in knots. What a great way to end the day!! The fact that I had to get up the next morning at 4:30am for the Community Prayer Breakfast didn't appease the situation any either.

But the LORD is certainly more clever than I.

Tuesday morning I woke with a word floating around in my head: Gratitude. Now I know that with Thanksgiving just a couple of days away, this word is not some great revelation. Everyone is thinking about what they are thankful for at this time of year, right? Do we really know the true meaning of gratitude? Not just being thankful for this or for that, but really being grateful even in the face of a storm?

The Father always seems to find a way in my life to tie things together. He has been calling me to choose joy, but as I learned yesterday, that's not all. Gratitude must be Joy's partner. They must travel together. One can not survive without the other. They are companions with Sorrow and Suffering. They build and stretch us.

Hindsight is 20/20 and if I look back on the last several days, I can see lesson after lesson followed by blessing after blessing where the Father was teaching me about Gratitude, teaching how blessed I truly am; even in the midst of some incredible trials. I wish I could share them all, but I am simply going to leave this post with a song. Music speaks so powerfully in my life. This is a song I have loved for some time, but discovered again last night. I am amazed at how he sets things in our path just when we need to be reminded of them again. The song is by Nicole Nordeman and I found a video version of it on YouTube done by a church for their Thanksgiving service. So enjoy . . .

And Happy Thanksgiving . . .