A couple of weeks ago, in a small Bible study group I attend here in Riga, I was challenged to write down some of the things I'm thankful for.
Here's the thing: once you start making a list like that, you realize that it's a never-ending task.¹ There truly is an incredible amount of things that I can be thankful for. More than enough to fill two pages without even really stopping to think.
Family,
friends,
pens that write well and don't bleed,
health,
Jesus,
chocolate chip cookies,
resurrection,
hope,
clean water,
blueberries,
(and so on, ad infinitum).
The interesting part of this exercise, at least to me, was how many things showed up on the list that I'm thankful for now, that at some point in my past I wasn't.
School,
work,
pain,
heartbreak,
brokenness,
broke-ness²
loss,
failure,
mushrooms,³
the New York Yankees.⁴
That's not to say that I'm now thankful for every circumstance or situation. I'd rather have not broken that bone, seen that relationship dissolve, been downsized from that job, failed that class, or watched the Red Sox lose to to the Yankees in 2003.
But pain is often the catalyst for growth. Hardship fosters endurance, which brings about strength of character and eventually the state of being "perfect and complete, needing nothing."⁵
So there's that.
I would never wish pain or suffering on anyone, including myself. And neither, I think, would Jesus. But I am thankful - deeply, heart-swellingly so - that he can create opportunities for genuine thankfulness from the worst that this world can throw at us.
And for that,
(among many, many, many other beautiful and wonderful things),
I am thankful.
¹Perhaps a shorter - and infinitely more revealing - list would be one of "things I'm not thankful for."
²The state of being broke, i.e. dirt poor, i.e. "I have no money and lots of bills."
³Maybe to say I'm thankful for mushrooms is a bit of a stretch. But I used to despise them, and now I quite enjoy a mushroom under the right circumstances. I'll chalk that up as progress
⁴How else could the Red Sox have vanquished all those years of frustration and futility, if not for the NYY?
⁵James 1:2-4
Here's the thing: once you start making a list like that, you realize that it's a never-ending task.¹ There truly is an incredible amount of things that I can be thankful for. More than enough to fill two pages without even really stopping to think.
Family,
friends,
pens that write well and don't bleed,
health,
Jesus,
chocolate chip cookies,
resurrection,
hope,
clean water,
blueberries,
(and so on, ad infinitum).
The interesting part of this exercise, at least to me, was how many things showed up on the list that I'm thankful for now, that at some point in my past I wasn't.
School,
work,
pain,
heartbreak,
brokenness,
broke-ness²
loss,
failure,
mushrooms,³
the New York Yankees.⁴
That's not to say that I'm now thankful for every circumstance or situation. I'd rather have not broken that bone, seen that relationship dissolve, been downsized from that job, failed that class, or watched the Red Sox lose to to the Yankees in 2003.
But pain is often the catalyst for growth. Hardship fosters endurance, which brings about strength of character and eventually the state of being "perfect and complete, needing nothing."⁵
So there's that.
I would never wish pain or suffering on anyone, including myself. And neither, I think, would Jesus. But I am thankful - deeply, heart-swellingly so - that he can create opportunities for genuine thankfulness from the worst that this world can throw at us.
And for that,
(among many, many, many other beautiful and wonderful things),
I am thankful.
¹Perhaps a shorter - and infinitely more revealing - list would be one of "things I'm not thankful for."
²The state of being broke, i.e. dirt poor, i.e. "I have no money and lots of bills."
³Maybe to say I'm thankful for mushrooms is a bit of a stretch. But I used to despise them, and now I quite enjoy a mushroom under the right circumstances. I'll chalk that up as progress
⁴How else could the Red Sox have vanquished all those years of frustration and futility, if not for the NYY?
⁵James 1:2-4