Thank you for...
This year has been one of learning gratitude.
I think it started just before Christmas when I was asked to speak at our church women's christmas event, and as I did the preparation I was bowled over by how much the Bible had to say about the integral role of gratitude in our lives... not just because God needs the thanks, but because we need to give it. It does our souls good. It gives perspective. It brings joy.
Shortly afterwards, a dear friend gave me a copy of Ann Voskamp's critically acclaimed 1000 Gifts, which I have STILL not finished reading but which I savour every time I pick it up. In a nutshell, it tells of her own epiphany and subsequent life change as she made a habit of learning to thank God for every small gift.
And of course, now that I"m aware of it, I see the message everywhere.Geatitude is a habit. It's a discipline. It's something you teach yourself to do, and the more you do it - the better it gets and the easier it comes. It often feels to me like a spiritual workout - with the same emotional baggage attached as a trip to the gym. I dread it, I dread it, I stall, I make excuses... but once I get past the first reluctant five minutes I feel so much better and so energized and I think "what took me so long to do this?" Spiritual abd emotional endorphins, if you will.
So it's entering into my parenting. It occurs to me that it's not enough to teach my children not to whine. Every parent on the planet repeats (ad nauseum, ad infinitum), "no whining!". In fact, the second memory verse I ever taught my daughter (after John 3:16), was Philippians 2:14 "do EVERYTHING without complaining or arguing".
But there's more to it than that. I need to not just teach my kids not to whine. I need to teach them to replace it with thankfulness... if the true work in a change of disposition and attitude is to take effect.
I am 35 years old and I realize I am only really now starting to learn the DISCIPLINE of thankfulness. I want to be more than a non-complainer, at best a stoic. I want to have a joyful, thankful heart which thinks first to count blessings than to notice lack. And I want so much that to be the case for my children.
This week is a great week to practice in. The end of this pregnancy is HARD, and it is compounded by a series of infections that are making me feel pretty pitiful. But this week I have been able (and willing! and joyful!) to say I am thankful that:
* I have the use of BOTH my eyes. On Friday I was wearing an eye patch due to an eye infection, and I could hardly function. What a gift depth perception is.
* I am thankful for the use of BOTH my ears. As I write this, I still have no hearing in my left ear due to an ear infection and ear drum perforation. And it is debilitating! But usually I hear amazingly well, and I had never thought to be thankful before. So I am.
* EVERY day this week I have been thankful for our health insurance. I have been to the doctor's office five times in as many days, filled four prescriptions, called the advice nurse twice... and got specialist advice on my options for antibiotics. All quick, local, available, and at hardly any out of pocket cost to us. Amazing. I am so thankful.
* the wonderful friends who care for us, even though we are laden with bacteria! For Amanda who took my kids all day Friday so I could rest, for Rachel who went to the store to buy me raisins, for Ray and Wendy who brought us enough delicious thai food to feed a minor army. And many, many more.
* For Jeremy being able to work from home for two days. True, he did this because he has also had a contagious eye infection, but he could STILL work, and still be around to help.
* For sweet, redemptive moments with my daughter. I posted this on facebook yesterday:
"At the end of the rollicking tale of a Cat in a Hat who wreaks havoc in a house while the childrens' mother is away (against the better judgment of their fish), the book poses a rhetorical question for the reader:
"Then our mother came in
And she said to us two,
'Did you have any fun?
Tell me. What did you do?
And Sally and I did not know
What to say.
Should we tell her
The things that went on there tht day?
SHould we tell her about it?
Now, what SHOULD we do?
Well...
What would YOU do
If your mother asked YOU?"
My eldest's answer: "Well, my Mom is always at home. I love you being at home Mom."
* I am thankful for a humidifer, which made it possible to sleep despite a racking cough last night.
* I am thankful for comic relief, like this article which made me laugh so hard and so loudly that I had to completely repair my mascara afterwards.
* And, last for this list (but by no means near the end of the real list), I am thankful that this baby is still safely in utero, protected from all the bugs yet ready to come out when s/he is ready.
You know, it works. I feel less complainy when I"m giving thanks. And it worked for my kiddos too. Teg was having a TERRIFICALLY whiny day today (poor kid got all my infections), and after several hours of whining I suggested to her we play a new game. "What game?" said she. "The thankfulness game. We each take a turn to say something we're thankful for. Do you want to go first or shall I?"
Friends, Teg and I played the thankfulness game for about 15 minutes while we ran errands this afternoon, and wouldn't you know there was ZERO complaining during the game, and for a couple of hours afterwards?
If you haven't read Ann Voskamp's book - do.
If you haven't counted your blessings today - do. You have nothing to lose, and everything , in fact joy itself, to gain.
I think it started just before Christmas when I was asked to speak at our church women's christmas event, and as I did the preparation I was bowled over by how much the Bible had to say about the integral role of gratitude in our lives... not just because God needs the thanks, but because we need to give it. It does our souls good. It gives perspective. It brings joy.
Shortly afterwards, a dear friend gave me a copy of Ann Voskamp's critically acclaimed 1000 Gifts, which I have STILL not finished reading but which I savour every time I pick it up. In a nutshell, it tells of her own epiphany and subsequent life change as she made a habit of learning to thank God for every small gift.
And of course, now that I"m aware of it, I see the message everywhere.Geatitude is a habit. It's a discipline. It's something you teach yourself to do, and the more you do it - the better it gets and the easier it comes. It often feels to me like a spiritual workout - with the same emotional baggage attached as a trip to the gym. I dread it, I dread it, I stall, I make excuses... but once I get past the first reluctant five minutes I feel so much better and so energized and I think "what took me so long to do this?" Spiritual abd emotional endorphins, if you will.
So it's entering into my parenting. It occurs to me that it's not enough to teach my children not to whine. Every parent on the planet repeats (ad nauseum, ad infinitum), "no whining!". In fact, the second memory verse I ever taught my daughter (after John 3:16), was Philippians 2:14 "do EVERYTHING without complaining or arguing".
But there's more to it than that. I need to not just teach my kids not to whine. I need to teach them to replace it with thankfulness... if the true work in a change of disposition and attitude is to take effect.
I am 35 years old and I realize I am only really now starting to learn the DISCIPLINE of thankfulness. I want to be more than a non-complainer, at best a stoic. I want to have a joyful, thankful heart which thinks first to count blessings than to notice lack. And I want so much that to be the case for my children.
This week is a great week to practice in. The end of this pregnancy is HARD, and it is compounded by a series of infections that are making me feel pretty pitiful. But this week I have been able (and willing! and joyful!) to say I am thankful that:
* I have the use of BOTH my eyes. On Friday I was wearing an eye patch due to an eye infection, and I could hardly function. What a gift depth perception is.
* I am thankful for the use of BOTH my ears. As I write this, I still have no hearing in my left ear due to an ear infection and ear drum perforation. And it is debilitating! But usually I hear amazingly well, and I had never thought to be thankful before. So I am.
* EVERY day this week I have been thankful for our health insurance. I have been to the doctor's office five times in as many days, filled four prescriptions, called the advice nurse twice... and got specialist advice on my options for antibiotics. All quick, local, available, and at hardly any out of pocket cost to us. Amazing. I am so thankful.
* the wonderful friends who care for us, even though we are laden with bacteria! For Amanda who took my kids all day Friday so I could rest, for Rachel who went to the store to buy me raisins, for Ray and Wendy who brought us enough delicious thai food to feed a minor army. And many, many more.
* For Jeremy being able to work from home for two days. True, he did this because he has also had a contagious eye infection, but he could STILL work, and still be around to help.
* For sweet, redemptive moments with my daughter. I posted this on facebook yesterday:
"At the end of the rollicking tale of a Cat in a Hat who wreaks havoc in a house while the childrens' mother is away (against the better judgment of their fish), the book poses a rhetorical question for the reader:
"Then our mother came in
And she said to us two,
'Did you have any fun?
Tell me. What did you do?
And Sally and I did not know
What to say.
Should we tell her
The things that went on there tht day?
SHould we tell her about it?
Now, what SHOULD we do?
Well...
What would YOU do
If your mother asked YOU?"
My eldest's answer: "Well, my Mom is always at home. I love you being at home Mom."
* I am thankful for a humidifer, which made it possible to sleep despite a racking cough last night.
* I am thankful for comic relief, like this article which made me laugh so hard and so loudly that I had to completely repair my mascara afterwards.
* And, last for this list (but by no means near the end of the real list), I am thankful that this baby is still safely in utero, protected from all the bugs yet ready to come out when s/he is ready.
You know, it works. I feel less complainy when I"m giving thanks. And it worked for my kiddos too. Teg was having a TERRIFICALLY whiny day today (poor kid got all my infections), and after several hours of whining I suggested to her we play a new game. "What game?" said she. "The thankfulness game. We each take a turn to say something we're thankful for. Do you want to go first or shall I?"
Friends, Teg and I played the thankfulness game for about 15 minutes while we ran errands this afternoon, and wouldn't you know there was ZERO complaining during the game, and for a couple of hours afterwards?
If you haven't read Ann Voskamp's book - do.
If you haven't counted your blessings today - do. You have nothing to lose, and everything , in fact joy itself, to gain.
posted by Bronwyn at 8:59 pm
3 Comments:
I am thankful for you.
And for your giving of thanks.
And for your teaching of thanksgiving to your daughter and your friends.
Thankfulness is more contagious than sickness, and like balm to the souls of the thanksgiver and the hearer. Even if they have only one functional ear!
hugs (from a safe distance)
I am thankful to have found Bronwyn's blog again. I hope you are feeling better and the birth of number 3 goes well.
I am also grateful that we have a court date for our number 3. Deborah becomes officially ours on 7 May.
Greetings from South Africa.
That was so beautiful and SO what I needed to hear. Thank you!! :)
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