Friday, November 18, 2011

30 Days of Thankfulness; Day 18 {Thankful for the strain that causes growth}

One thing that is a little bit hard about this 30 days of thankfulness thing is that I am journaling my thankfulness every single day - meaning that, if I am honest, I will be journaling through some hard stuff as well as really good stuff. ... And taking all of you with me through the up's and down's this whole month. That makes blog journaling every day challenging and revealing.

It's part of the whole exercise of this though; helping me to see the truth of 1Thessalonians 5:16-18.

16 Always be joyful. 

17 Never stop praying. 

18 Be thankful in all circumstances, for this is God’s will for you who belong to Christ Jesus.
Tyndale House Publishers. (2004). Holy Bible : New Living Translation. "Text edition"--Spine. (2nd ed.) (1 Th 5:16-18). Wheaton, Ill.: Tyndale House Publishers.
That  "Be Thankful in ALL circumstances"... is a challenge. I am learning more and more about what this means.
 I used to think I had to be thankful for everything. Like - huge grin, over joyed about every.single.crazy. thing that happened.
No. :)  
It's more of a "Even when hard/crazy/unexpected things happen retain your thankfulness". Maybe not necessarily directly related to the hard/crazy/unexpected circumstances...but just our over all joy.


The joy of our salvation. If we had the correct perspective, that would be enough. Overflowing, bringing us to our knees - enough.

Gratefulness for all we have been given. So much we don't deserve. 

I believe this is what those verses mean.

Not, "I am so thankful that my 2 year old just coughed so hard he threw up during lunch time! This is fantastic!"

But, "Wow. That was not how I thought our lunch time was going to go. That wasn't cool. But, I am not going to allow a bad attitude about the yucky clean up job awaiting me to rule my heart. There is way too much good in my heart to have any room for complaining!"

Make sense?

Okay, so to my thankfuls...


I am so thankful for my Noe B and his sweet little preschool Thanksgiving feast. Complete with cheese, crackers, fruit, and every delicious pie you could think of. So grateful for these memories in the making. My 4 year old (for only another month!) reciting poems with hand motions and nervous glances, hoping he is saying it all right.


Thankful that we were seated next to a dear friend, who I just don't get enough time chatting with anymore.


 I am grateful that Dave and I had made plans to go out together tonight. And that we stuck to our plans. The past couple of days have been hard for us... and date night seemed like it could be more challenge than fun tonight. Alot of work. Conversations we didn't necessarily want to have.


I feel like when we hit the one year mark of Dave being in school we hit a bit of a wall...


It seemed to all just pile on us. The amount of time he has had to spend studying. The dwindling hours that we have spent together as a family, and together as a couple. The added strain. It all just kind of hit home. There was this weariness that settled around us. 


That led to what I think of as "weeds" popping up in our relationship. Things that aren't inherently bad... but could potentially lead to a downward spiral. Little red flags, signaling that maintenance was needed.


So we went out for pizza. Amazingly delicious Chicago style deep dish pizza, I might add.

I am thankful for an evening of just the two of us. Time to talk, even though it was neither fun nor easy conversations. I am thankful for a date that was part loving togetherness, and part pain.

I am so grateful that we have something to fight for.


I am thankful for tears that cleanse, and for delicious food. At the same time. 

 I seriously was getting a little weepy in our booth at the pizza place, and in mid sentence said, "Wow, this is amazing pizza!" And of course that made us laugh and was just good for the soul...


I am grateful for a willing grandma babysitter, a quiet house, boys asleep, and much needed rest.

Today: I am so grateful for my marriage. For a man willing to work through some of the tough stuff of life. Listening to me, caring about my feelings, and urging me to grow.

2 comments:

Nikki said...

What you wrote about marriage: so, so beautiful, and so, so true. I can't imagine the time strain that must be on your family. So thankful that you two did take the time for each other--and that God blessed you with deep-dish pizza for those difficult conversations!

Jackie said...

Oh my - so beautiful. And I completely understand the ability to be weepy AND totally excited about excellent pizza. :) So happy that you were able to have time to talk - so important (and a reminder that I think I need to have a weed-pulling conversation with my hubby from time to time as well...so easy for life to suck up all the time and energy from us).