The Importance of Being Intentionally Thankful

Intentionally Thankful

This time of year I start thinking about Thanksgiving. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, Thanksgiving is not treated with the respect it deserves. (To read more about putting Thanksgiving in the corner click here.)

When I was young being truly thankful for something meant saying “thank you” when you got gifts at birthday parties or Christmas, or when someone gave you a compliment. Youth and inexperience caused me to take things for-granted. As we grow older and wiser life teaches us some tough lessons. (1) Loved ones aren’t here forever. (2) Fortunes can be made and lost. (3) Good health is worth more than money (4) Time stops for no one and in fact, seems to speed up as we age.

Intentionally Thankful During Good Times and Bad

We have finally opened our agri-tourism business (Bellview Family Farm-you can find us on Facebook). It’s been a long time coming (years). We faced one obstacle after another and then Bill got sick. Little did we know how sick he would become and how long it would be before he got better. (Bill’s Story)

The first weekend we were open for the public went fairly smoothly. The second weekend didn’t go so well. It was cold and rainy. In fact, it was so wet that the ground was saturated. Bill got out of his truck and immediately slipped and fell. Thankfully his head missed the running board of the truck. He was sore and dirty but we were thankful he wasn’t hurt worse.

Later that day I was leaving to go home when my car slid in the mud. I tried going forward. I tried going backwards. Then I slid sideways and finally hit a fence pole which embarrassed me (there were folks watching who thought this was part of the farm entertainment). When I hit the pole, our 3 geese (Larry, Curly and Moe) squawked and flapped their wings as if to say, “Stay out of our pond!” I told them I didn’t want to go into the pond even though my car now needed a bath.

The literal and figurative moral to this story is It is easy to be thankful when life is going smoothly. It’s harder when life is a nasty, muddy, mess.

Intentionally Thankful During Difficulties

When Bill was sick I had some very hard days, weeks and months but there was still so much to be thankful for.

I was thankful for a space on the 6th floor of the Medical Center where I could read my Bible every morning and pray.

For the chapel at T J Samson where I prayed and where a kind nurse wrapped me in warm blankets because I was shaking so hard.

For the doctors and nurses who were caring for my husband and encouraging me.

For the friend who got out in cold weather to bring me home cooked meals (many times).

For my family and friends who stepped up to take care of things at home while we were gone.

For the hundreds of cards and care packages delivered to us from family and friends.

For hot showers and a warm bed and my cousin’s house the few times I left the hospital.

For the gift of prayer and those who prayed on our behalf.

Even when I was at my lowest I knew God was with me and wouldn’t leave me. “Let your manner of living be without covetousness, and be content with such things as ye have. For He hath said, “I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee”; Hebrews 13:5

Being intentionally thankful is a way of life….an attitude of gratitude in your heart that stays with you no matter what your circumstances are.

Corrie Ten Boom

I can’t talk about being thankful without mentioning Corrie Ten Boom. In her book, The Hiding Place (true story of her life) she tells about her life in a concentration camp during WW11. The soldiers would come to the women’s barracks at night and do unspeakable things to them. Every night they dreaded when the soldiers would come and then one week, without warning the nightly inspections stopped. Corrie and her sister Betsy learned that the reason they had stopped coming was because the barracks was infested with fleas. Betsy and Corrie immediately stopped what they were doing and gave thanks for fleas!

Now that’s gratitude in the face of adversity.

To me being intentionally thankful means acknowledging that while life here on earth will always have it’s ups and downs, God will always be with me and I thank Him for that daily. It means waking up with a “thank you prayer” in my heart and praising Him throughout the day. Even on messy, muddy, yucky days. Like my cousin Martha was so fond of saying, “Every day may not be good, but there is good in every day.”

How do you define being intentionally thankful? Please let me know in the comment section! I read each and every comment!