Tag Archives: thankfulness

Monday

27 Monday Jul 2015

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Living thankfully causes Monday to be a great day…full of anticipation, full of opportunity, full of new experiences and new growth.  Living thankfully transforms my vision.  Living thankfully gives me hope and peace.

I used to join with others in acknowledging the Monday blahs until life knocked me down so many times it was hard to get up with my old way of thinking.  I reached the point where getting back up was just a reflex because the alternative was a little too tough to deal with at the time.  Then, I started changing my thinking strategy.  I made the effort to be thankful in all circumstances and it has changed my outlook.

So I never get down or frustrated anymore?  No.  Of course not.  Life can be too challenging to always stay up, always positive, always thankful.  I take some potshots now and then that lead me back to my old ways.  I am not perfect.  I am not fixed.  I am still the broken, beaten guy I have always been only I choose, I said I CHOOSE, to make the effort to be thankful.  For some people it is more natural.  For me, it is a choice and one that I have found to be exceptionally rewarding.

This morning, my VSW said she hoped to see how God used her today.  I told her he just did…he used her to remind me to be thankful and be looking for how I would be used today.  What a blessing that woman is in my life.  A gift.  He used her early and I know he will use her again today, over and over.  I do hope she sees it all.

In the meantime, I will take a day and a situation that could overwhelm me and choose to be thankful for so much that I do have.  I will look for opportunity.  I will look for the door to open.  I will hope for what is to come and for what might me in the next moment.

Grace and peace.

The Arm on My Chest

16 Monday Mar 2015

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Anyone who has talked to me, read my posts or heard me pontificate from the soapbox knows I think life is hard.  Ailments, financial strains, aging parents, kids and spiritual warfare dinging our psyche and soul…all tough stuff.  So we are left with our minds to choose what we see in life and where we place our focus.  The tough stuff is.  It just is.  It won’t go away so we decide whether to live in the struggle we can see or the hope we have that reminds each moment is new and filled with possibility to love, laugh and live free.

That brings me to the arm on my chest.  I’m struggling to sleep lately.  I’ve been dealing with illness, with job stress, with kids in town and the balancing act of doing everything that needs to be done.  It would be easy for me to get caught up in all of that, and honestly, I have over the past few days.  Then there’s the sleep issue.  I woke up at 2:30 this morning and never went back to sleep.  Lots of thoughts on my mind and some stomach rumbling and no sleep.  I could look at it is a miserable night but for much of it, there was an arm on my chest.

While I was wanting to go to sleep, I was also feeling thankful that I had an arm draped over me and that arm belonged to a wonderful woman who has brought so much joy and hope and peace into my life.  That arm belonged to a beautiful woman who was sleeping pretty soundly and I was thankful because I knew that meant she was at peace at that moment.  That arm laying across me was a reminder that I am loved.

I laid in bed for the better part of 4 hours with an arm on my chest for a great part of that time and the arm was a reminder that I can choose to see the beauty of life in the midst of the storms.  The arm laying over me gave me a sense of contentment and thankfulness that I appreciate.  I rejoice in the arm on my chest.

Grace and peace.

 

A Tale of Two Birthdays

30 Tuesday Dec 2014

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Today is my birthday.  I know this because I just got an AARP card that reminded me.  How thoughtful of them!

I woke up this morning in my own bed.  In my house (well, the one the bank and I are buying).  I woke up next to my wife.  I am in a place where I am close to people I love and who love me.  I am so thankful for the blessings this morning brought me.

Last year I woke up in a small bed set up in a barn.  The floor was dirty and the shower was small.  I went to work in an environment that wasn’t exactly friendly at that point and I was separated from everyone I knew.

I have been on a journey for several years now that has led me through some dark and painful places, through some periods of great hope, through lessons about myself and lessons about others.  The contrast of my birthday last year and this year simply highlights what the journey has been like for me.

I have learned that I am strong emotionally.  I have been on my knees in tears and screaming out to God but always got up and moved forward taking on whatever came my way the best I could.

I have learned what friendship means.  One of my dearest brothers drove 3 hours just to have dinner with me.  Other close friends called me regularly to check on me.  Others texted and sent emails.  I knew people cared and that carried me far.

I have learned what loneliness feels like.  I thought I liked to be alone.  I have learned I need some space at times to think, process and regroup but I do not want to be alone.  It’s one thing to live alone knowing with a phone call it is likely I can meet someone to eat or grab coffee and another thing to live alone and not know anyone within a 3 hour drive.  I have much more sympathy for people who are lonely and hope I will continue to learn how to minister to them.

I have learned that thankfulness is a choice.  I learned how to be thankful when I was in an emotionally and spiritually challenging place and I have learned to really appreciate what I have during the normal course of life.  Choosing thankfulness allows me to see the world and the people in it very differently and it changes my mindset minute by minute to focus on positive thoughts.

I have learned that 50 isn’t near as old as it seemed just a few years ago.  Life flies by in an instant.  I wish there was a way to share that with people but it seems so many, like me, only learn it when so many years have gone by.  I hope I cherish my next 50 years much more than I have the past 50.

On this birthday, my 50th, I am full of thankfulness.  Full of hope.  Full of joy.  Full of amazement.  I thank the good Lord for all he has done and is doing in my life.

Grace and peace.

 

Thankfulness

07 Friday Nov 2014

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“Joy does not simply happen to us. We have to choose joy and keep choosing it every day.” ~Henri Nouwen

I want to overflow with thankfulness.  OVERFLOW!

Yesterday, I was thinking while praying (yes, sometimes I can chew bubblegum and walk at the same time) all that I had to be thankful for.  For instance, my job situation right now isn’t the best, lots of problems and I know the position could go away depending on some different factors, and yet I am thankful for this job in the midst of those issues.  I’m thankful because it brought me home.  I’m thankful because it allowed me to marry my VSW and start a life that is more fulfilling than anything I have known or can remember.  I’m thankful that God has given me this time and this space to live and love and realize all that I have.

Yes, there is stress with my job.  Yes, there is financial stress with what the last few years have brought me.  Yes, there may be lots of stress in lots of areas…yet I want to live thankfully and trust all the rest will work out if I am true to being thankful and doing the best I can do to be the best husband, father, friend, employee and child of God I can be.  And I want to overflow with thankfulness.

Joy comes from thankfulness.  I want to be a catalyst for more joy in the world.

Grace and peace.

And then there’s the new day…

30 Tuesday Apr 2013

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Darkness before the dawn?  Rain before the sunshine?  Storm before the calm?

I’m in a place in life I don’t understand and I don’t particularly care for.  At least in my way of thinking.  Today, I keep wondering what God is thinking.  His ways are not my ways.  His thoughts are not my thoughts.  I was reading Jesus Calling (thank you Sarah Young!) this morning and this sentence is hanging with me, “The secret of being thankful is learning to see everything from My perspective.”  Seeing things thorough God’s perspective is a gift I haven’t mastered yet.  I can look back and see it but seeing it in the here and now is difficult.  I told a friend the other day I wish God would hand me the script so I would know the ending and then I would patiently wait.  Of course, that’s probably not true either.

As I sit here today, trying to understand God’s perspective, I try to remember that He didn’t give me a journey of living in the Middle East, He didn’t give me the journey of a crippling disease, He didn’t give me the journey of being imprisoned, He didn’t give me a lot of journeys that seem so hard.  On the other hand, He is giving me a journey of waiting and wondering.  How long?  Will I be able to meet the obligations, financial and otherwise, I told people I would meet?  Today, waiting and wondering is my journey.  And I will be thankful this day.  That doesn’t mean I won’t miss some of the good things He has put in my life or that I won’t feel loneliness or sadness.  It just means in those times today, I will try to stop and see it from God’s perspective and try to understand what He wants me to see and feel and know today.

I share my scariest thoughts here but it is good for me to release them.  Today, I want to release those scary thoughts into God’s hands and see what He wants to do with them and with me.

Grace and peace.

Blogging Blues

21 Thursday Feb 2013

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I’ve had the blogging blues.  I think about stuff to write but I don’t want to write it.  I suppose it follows the changes in life…good days, not so good days, downright bad days.  Or, maybe I write when there is a lot on my mind and can’t write when there is too much on my mind.  So here are some random thoughts.  (I always enjoy reading these weeks and months later to see where my head was because I know what it all means and a lot of other readers don’t.  Yes, I’m stingy that what.)

Had lunch with a good friend yesterday and we fired up the talk about being “happy.”  My friend knows I am not a fan of people wanting to be happy when I think there are better and deeper things to strive for.  Heck, I want to be happy and I generally am happy but it doesn’t take much thinking about wanting a job and not getting it or how to pay for something when money is tight or how someone treated me to make me unhappy.  When people pull out the “God wants me to be happy” card I always ask them if they read the story of Job.  Or David, the man after God’s own heart.  If that’s happy, it’s not always pretty.

There’s a job I really want right now but it doesn’t exist yet.  That’ a bit of a struggle, huh?  The job is working in an area that I’m passionate about on two fronts: helping people get through conflict and helping people get on their feet when they’ve been kicked, hit, run over, etc.  I read Jesus Calling daily and every day the message tells me to trust God and to be thankful for where I am and what He is doing in this time and space.  I’m trying but it hasn’t stopped me from telling Him about this job and asking Him to open the doors and pave the road to make it happen.

Today, Jesus Calling started with this sentence.  TRUST AND THANKFULNESS WILL get you safely through this day.

Negative people weigh me down.  Last night was a “weigh-downer” and that’s all I need to say about that right now.

On the bright side, I got a call from a friend who knows of a job opportunity he wants to recommend me for and asked for my resume.  Maybe it’s not the dream job or maybe it is.  SO THANKFUL for good friends and good contacts.

I have determined I like consulting work when I don’t have to do it for a living.  I thought it’s what I always wanted for a career.  I do enjoy it but I enjoy building relationships within an organization better.  In consulting, I work with the owner primarily and hope they follow my suggestions.  Working in an organization allows me the space to plan, develop and execute the project and build relationships with all those working on it.  I can be a coach, encourager and mentor directly to the people involved along the path.  It’s good to do new things, explore new things and learn new things.  This is something I have learned about me.

Enough already.  Time for the rambling to cease and some productivity to start.

Grace and peace.

Thankfulness

27 Tuesday Nov 2012

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I woke up Monday morning to the news of a 10 year losing his courageous and long battle with cancer.  Today, I spoke with a man helping me find a job whose son committed suicide after his parents went through an ugly divorce.

Every morning I talk to God and tell Him what scares me and what I’m worried about.  It is getting harder and harder to talk about my fears and worries when I hear stories like the two above.  I have incredible friends who love me and surround me with support when times are hard and when things are rolling along.  I have two kids that make me both humble and proud that God would give me such beautiful gifts.  I have gifts, abilities and talents that will allow me to do many things and have a measure of health that still allows me to get around pretty well.  Those are just a few of the good things I have in my life.

As I write this, I keep coming back to the thought of praying each morning and telling God my fears when He has blessed me so generously in this realm yet, so much more, has blessed me with a victory that will last forever.  How simple-minded I see myself at times that I can focus on what I can feel and see when the greatest gifts are unseen.

I hope my prayers will continue to move to prayers of thanksgiving.  Though I know I can still voice my concerns, I hope my focus sees the blessings but much, much more than that, I hope I continue to grow closer and closer to God so that my focus is on His will and what He has in store for me…today and for eternity.  I have so much to be thankful for and I give God all the glory for the beauty in my life and for His continual presence when life isn’t as beautiful.

I ask that you say a prayer for Rex’s family as they grieve his loss and for Hank and his healing from losing his precious son.

Grace and peace.