Give Thanks

Normally ascribed to a post around Thanksgiving, this title may be misleading. The truth is we tend to think about thankfulness more around that time of year but it's truly an attitude we should have all day, every day.

I'm in a study with a few women about the heart. Our lesson Tuesday morning was on the attitude of the heart and gratefulness. Much of our problem with contentment is lack of thankfulness. If we learn to be thankful for the things we have, the friends we have, the family we have, and the blessings we receive, we will soon find we don't have much to complain about. Do we have as much as someone else? Of course not! Do we have more than others? Absolutely! There will always be someone we know who has more or who we perceive has more or better. But look the other direction and you'll find someone else who has less than you do....and may quite possibly be more content.

Matthew 12:34 tells us "For out of the overflow of the heart the mouth speaks." To be quite honest, I haven't been 100% thrilled with what's come out of my mouth or at least mulled around in my head these past few challenging months. God is using this latest test to show me there is some stuff in my heart that needs to be cut out.

After having this lesson yesterday, today I was put to the test. Here's the story:

I arrived 15 minutes early today for my medical test, as requested by the facility. My appointment was scheduled for 11:30. My mom went with me because Steve didn't feel he could today and while I was totally prepared to go by myself, it was quite a blessing having her there.

Initially I was quite impressed as they had me all checked in and ready by 11:35. Having spent many, many hours in doctor's offices, I knew this was fairly unbelievable.

"Unheard of!" I thought to myself...yeah, right.

At 12:39 (yes to the minute) they came to get me. Normally I would have been annoyed at waiting over an hour for an appointment they had asked me to be 15 minutes early for in the first place. Today I was not. I was really enjoying the conversation with my mother and having taken my first dose of prednisone, I was actually not doing that poorly. As a funny aside, my mom had just stepped down the hall to use the restroom because we finally decided it would be forever before they came. Literally 30 seconds later the woman walked up to call me. Of course that would happen. I explained I was waiting for my mom to return and sit with the coats and purses. She asked who the appointment was for - me or my mom. I said "me". She told me to throw the coat over the purses and it would be fine. Um, no, not going to happen. I assured her she'd be right back. She told me in a disgusted voice that if I wasn't ready they'd have to come back later to get me. READY!?!? I'd been waiting over an hour! I smiled and simply said my mom would be back in just a minute and since it was already an hour past my appointment I didn't see harm in waiting just a minute for me. Amazingly, she did! And she wasn't even crabby at me either.

Okay, I'm getting to the relevant part but the set up will help you understand how truly amazing this is. We walked to the back where I sat in my 3rd waiting room. The door to the room was oversize and there was a phrase about 10-12 inches high and the width of the door in capital letters...."GIVE THANKS".

I honestly almost bawled. After she took more information from me she put a needle in my vein for the I.V. which was about the size of my little finger. Seriously, it was huge and I don't normally flinch or feel it being inserted but this one was something else. I looked up at her and said "you know, I don't like that so much." She smiled and said most people don't. She walked out of the room and as I waited another 10 or 15 minutes I gave thanks for everything I could think of until she came back, including having her as my technician.

This was God's reminder for me today to have an attitude of thankfulness, even though nothing was going as scheduled and it wasn't pleasant or comfortable but in the midst of it I have reason to be grateful. It was truly an amazing spiritual time while having a physical, medical test.

Mom and I then walked across the street and shared a $5 sub sandwich. I felt horrible for what I decided had wasted the bulk of her day but she honestly didn't mind. We had a fabulous time together before I dropped her off and headed home.

Thankfulness. It's such an easy concept to understand although more difficult to practice. If we just focus for a minute, we can find much to be grateful for every single day. This is a lifestyle habit I intend to become much better at. The result are quite probable to be eternal.