I've been meaning to write this post for days and days...when I finally get all that other stuff done that needed doing...and when the mood/inspiration hits...and when I've dealt with all those little problems that have suddenly cropped up...and when a slot of time magically opens up and I'm not sleepy or hungry or grumpy or weepy or...Yeah, you get the idea.
Because here's the thing: that day never arrives. Never. We'll always have some reason, some excuse for not doing what we know we need to do, because God's called us to do it...but it's not urgent. It's not easy. And frankly, we simply don't feel like it.
And then suddenly it hit me--that's the very reason I need to sit down and write about this right now, whether I feel like it or not! Because the choice, the action I want to write about is also one that cannot wait until you feel like it. Or till your circumstances improve. Or till that mythical day when life calms down a bit.
Nope, you've just got to start doing it, because despite your feelings or your challenges or your circumstances or your difficulties, nothing nothing, nothing is more important in the midst of a storm than this ridiculously simple but profoundly life-changing choice--
Choosing to rejoice.
Choosing to be thankful.
And specifically, literally, choosing to name those reasons. Say them out loud. Write them down. Somehow, someway, make the choice--in the midst of the raging storm--to count your blessings.
"Yeah, yeah," you say. "Trite," you yawn. But let me tell you from the perspective of someone who has been there--it's utterly life-changing and perspective-restoring.
I've shared it a million times, but one day--maybe around day six or seven of Janie's stay in the ICU, a middle-aged man was admitted in the little room right next to hers. The walls in the ICU are so thin you can't really call them walls, so we could hear everything that was going on. And this man had been in some kind of accident. Like Janie, he had suffered some kind of brain injury and was unconscious.
We heard them go through the same protocol we'd already heard every hour with Janie. They'd yell, "Mr. So and so, Mr. So and so, wake up! You are in the hospital. Can you hear me? If you can hear me, wiggle your toes..." And so it would go, hour after hour. Just as it had with our daughter. For all those long days with Janie, nothing. No response. Hour after hour, day after day, nothing.
But with this other fellow, the very next day he obviously woke up and began slowly responding in some way to their questions. But (to my shame) instead of rejoicing for them, I felt sick with sorrow for us. "Why couldn't that be us, Lord? Why him and not Janie? Why won't you wake up Janie? We've been here a week...he's been here a few hours...why Lord?"
My mind and heart headed down a dark, deadly path of ugliness, despair and envy, and let me tell you, that will never take you anywhere good.
But I can only describe it as the extraordinary grace and goodness of God, for just as my mind started down that hideous road, the Lord stopped me in my tracks. And I seemed to hear "Start rejoicing. Start naming all the reasons for thanksgiving. Now!"
And this stubborn, slow-learning, often disobedient child, for once, listened and obeyed. I started that moment to begin making a mental list of things for which we could be thankful. Yes, it was a mighty weak and reluctant list at first, but praise God He takes us just as we are and blesses even our tiniest, most pathetic attempts.
"Umm, well, thank You for the Starbucks downstairs. That's something anyway, to have hot tea." I tried haltingly to continue: " Uh, thank You for these nurses and doctors. They have been amazing....and while I'm at it, thank You for our friends who have done so much to help us and to keep things going at home...thank You for my wonderful brothers and sisters who have been here with us in the midst of this fight constantly...thank You that we could come to this hospital and receive such extraordinary medical care...thank You for the praise music playing in Janie's room...thank You for Your Word that has truly come alive as never before..."
By now, I was on a roll, and the innumerable reasons for thankfulness and praise began to pour out...while the ugly despair and envy began to diminish.
Now, that's not to say everything changed...because it did not. Janie remained unconscious for another week. We fought fear and fevers and lung problems and discouragement and exhaustion. But we knew we were not fighting alone. We knew God was with us in the fight. We knew the Body of Christ was fighting alongside us. And we knew there are always, always, always reasons for thanksgiving and praise.
So that's my ridiculously simple suggestion...but I'm telling you--you will pierce the darkness with words of thanksgiving and praise so that the light begins shining through and your heart will be lifted. Lifted to look up...and see Him. And know that He is with you, beside you, before you, behind you, in you and for you.
It truly is a golden bridge of praise--a bridge that takes you from discouragement and despair and crosses over the darkness into the light of indefatigable joy and hope.
But you have to choose to cross over that bridge of praise. And often it simply begins by taking the first tentative, reluctant step. Don't wait to feel like it. Don't wait till circumstances improve. Don't wait till you think you really have a reason to praise. No, simply start praising and thanking. "Tune your heart to sing God's praise," as the old hymn puts it.
It's a choice, an act of the will that may or may not change your circumstances but that will profoundly, beautifully change you.
"Rejoice always. Pray without ceasing. Give thanks in all circumstances, for this is the will of God in Christ for you." (I Thess.5:16-18)
It's a command...and you have to choose...and no matter the storm, there will always, always, always be plenty of reason to rejoice and to give thanks. So just start. Start small, but start today. Start now.
To God be the glory.
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