Thinking about Gratitude

Thanksgiving Day is almost here and I’ve been counting my blessings. These are difficult times and there is a great deal of uncertainty even for those who aren’t facing homelessness or job loss. How easy it is to be grateful when things are going well and there is food on the table and money in the bank. We have to dig a little deeper to have a grateful heart during times of financial hardship, grief, sorrow or fear. Even in the darkest of times there are blessings if we can only allow ourselves to find them and to recognize them. It is when the times are the hardest that we should be our most grateful. Thankfulness and gratitude increase our faith and our faith sustains us in our times of need. This Thanksgiving it may be necessary to look a little deeper to find our blessings but your heart will be happier if you do.

With that in mind, I thought I would do a series of posts of lyrics, scripture and quotations that remind us to be thankful…especially when times are the worst!

A few years ago during a bad drought and a difficult financial time for our family, this Nichole Nordeman song, “Gratitude” gave me a much needed attitude adjustment. It made me realize that there are lessons to be learned and an increase in faith to be gained in all of the difficult times we face.

Gratitude
Send some rain, would You send some rain?
‘Cause the earth is dry and needs to drink again
And the sun is high and we are sinking in the shade
Would You send a cloud, thunder long and loud?
Let the sky grow black and send some mercy down
Surely You can see that we are thirsty and afraid
But maybe not, not today
Maybe You’ll provide in other ways
And if that’s the case . . .

We’ll give thanks to You
With gratitude
For lessons learned in how to thirst for You
How to bless the very sun that warms our face
If You never send us rain

Daily bread, give us daily bread
Bless our bodies, keep our children fed
Fill our cups, then fill them up again tonight
Wrap us up and warm us through
Tucked away beneath our sturdy roofs
Let us slumber safe from danger’s view this time
Or maybe not, not today
Maybe You’ll provide in other ways
And if that’s the case . . .

We’ll give thanks to You
With gratitude
A lesson learned to hunger after You
That a starry sky offers a better view if no roof is overhead And if we never taste that bread

Oh, the differences that often are between
What we want and what we really need

So grant us peace, Jesus, grant us peace
Move our hearts to hear a single beat
Between alibis and enemies tonight
Or maybe not, not today
Peace might be another world away
And if that’s the case . . .

We’ll give thanks to You
With gratitude
For lessons learned in how to trust in You
That we are blessed beyond what we could ever dream
In abundance or in need
And if You never grant us peace

But Jesus, would You please . . .