Great-ful and Thankful

July 22, 2012, Sunday

One thing that is typically true for depressed people is that they lose focus of their blessings.  They lose their attitude of gratitude.  To help with this, it is often recommended to start a gratitude journal in which, daily, you write ten things you are grateful for in your life.  Ann Voskamp wrote a book titled, “One Thousand Gifts,” that is about finding contentment right where you are.  How do you do that?  One way is to write ten things you are grateful for every day for 100 days – no repeats.  That makes 1000 gifts. 

I’ll be honest, I’ve not read the book.  About once a week or maybe a little more often, I check on her blog, www.aholyexperience.com , and I’ve found that she is continuing her list of gifts.  She is somewhere around 3500+.  Her style of writing is very flowery and “lilting” as one reviewer put it and so it just doesn’t appeal to me to read the book.  But, the blog is interesting.  One of the gifts that she listed is “a bucket of soapy water and a dirty floor.”  I remember thinking when I first read it, “WHATTTT??”  After thinking about it often, yes it took a lot of thinking because that one is wayyyy off my radar, I understand that she is grateful that she has the floor, that the floor is dirty because her large family is living on it, and that she had a means to clean it as well as the ability.  What did that focus of attitude do for her?  It must have helped her to be content and maybe even happy in doing a task that I abhor.

I’ve tried writing my own gratitude journal but, frankly, I’m horrible at it.  I just don’t take the time.  I don’t make the effort.  But, what I do do (it is necessary to say that with an emphasis that distinguishes it as two words) is I find myself increasingly looking for my blessings – or looking for the blessings even in the struggles.  As I’ve struggled with depression here lately, I find it helps to realign my focus.

So, what am I thankful for today?

1.       First and foremost, I am thankful for a God that not only lets me yell and scream at Him, but He wants it.

2.       I am thankful for the family I have and the measure of health we all have.

3.       I am thankful for my prayer warriors.

4.       I am thankful for the new portable A/C unit sitting beside me keeping me cool.

5.       I am thankful for the medical system we have because, while I am jaded at the moment, I still know that if we were in socialized medicine, we wouldn’t have been able to see all the doctors we have so far.

6.       I am ever so thankful for a husband who loves me unconditionally despite my failings, who is my rock, my encourager, my supporter, and who helps me to be a better person.

7.       I am thankful that my kids have a relationship that is beyond close.

8.       I am thankful for my sisters (biological and spiritual) who love me in so many ways.

9.       I am thankful for two careers that I absolutely love and places to work that grow me professionally, personally, and spiritually.

10.   I am thankful for the cruise we are taking this weekend!!!!

This morning in church we sang an old hymn that has for my entire life been negatively associated with funerals.  But this morning, as we were encouraged to sing it with enthusiasm and feeling, my heart soared and brought me to tears (yes, I hear the gasps of shock now!).  Here is the refrain:

Then sings my soul, My Savior God, to Thee,
How great Thou art, How great Thou art.
Then sings my soul, My Savior God, to Thee,
How great Thou art, How great Thou art!

For your listening enjoyment, my favorite version (other than this morning) of “How Great Thou Art.”