Real Thankful

Ah, the last day of the year. The day to reflect. All God has done for us. The blessings received. The troubles survived. But does anyone else ever struggle with this a bit? Sitting? Reflecting? Being still?



My mom calls herself a realist. She’s not a “glass half full” type of gal. She’s not a “glass half empty” type of gal. She’s a “look at all those glasses that are going to need to be washed” type of gal. Can I get an amen?



Ah, the last day of the year. The day to reflect. All God has done for us. The blessings received. The troubles survived. But does anyone else ever struggle with this a bit? Sitting? Reflecting? Being still?



My mom calls herself a realist. She’s not a “glass half full” type of gal. She’s not a “glass half empty” type of gal. She’s a “look at all those glasses that are going to need to be washed” type of gal. Can I get an amen?



We, as women, are busy folks. We’ve got to be real. We’ve trained ourselves to see what needs to get done, and then do it. Do we have time to sit and reflect?



Oh, but do we have time not to? I struggle to cultivate a thankful heart. Not because I’m not thankful but because I’m too busy moving onto the next issue at hand. Tackling whatever needs to be done today. Caring for others and helping out. (With the occasional moments of vegging out when I’m burned out from everything else.) 



I see blessings as I’m rushing by to wash the windows. I could probably see the blessings outside the windows if I looked beyond while getting them clean. The dirty windows themselves are a blessing if I would take a moment to notice that the rain streaked panes do keep the rain out and me dry. 

But, there’s more to do so I just move on.

In a world that’s whirling so quickly, do I sit down and count my blessings, name them one by one? Not very often, I am ashamed to admit.

So this New Year’s I’m actually going to make a resolution. Most years I skip the resolutions because I know that just because the calendar rolls to January 1 doesn’t mean I’m going to change anything big, especially if it wasn’t something I didn’t want to change Decemeber 1. I’ll either just change it or not, but most likely come April (if not, February), things will be as they were.

But this year, I’m gonna try the thankful project. Each day I will think of three things I’m thankful for. By 2011, that’s 1,095 things to be thankful for. By then, surely even a realist like me can see that my glass overflows.

Give thanks to the LORD, for he is good. His love endures forever. Psalm 136:1