Give Thanks

Give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.  1 Thessalonians 5:18

St. Paul instructed believers to give thanks for everything.  I have been thinking about this verse for several weeks after I heard a discussion about the difficulties of this message on a Catholic radio show.  It is so easy for me to thank God for all of the blessings in my life.  I have so many and I try to be grateful for all of them.  The tricky part is thanking God for the bad in our lives.

Every difficulty in our lives provides an opportunity to grow.  I definitely grow more through struggles than any other time.  I see the need to thank God for these struggles and the evolution that they may bring.  However, I don't always feel grateful even when the outcome is beneficial.  In the past few weeks I have been really looking at the life-altering hardships that I have had including being diagnosed with an autoimmune arthritis, raising six children (rewarding but definitely a hardship at times), and the biggest...my dad's death.

Arthritis has taken a lot out of me.  Anticipating a flare-up makes me anxious, coping with a flare-up makes me tired, and having the pain makes me angry.  It has also taught me to take advantage of the many, many pain-free days.  I hate trick-or-treating but I felt good so I took my very excited children last night.  They had fun and I loved seeing them enjoy the experience.  I think that I do more with my children now in case there is a day when I can't.  I started this blog so that later they can read about our life and remember the fun that we had.

Having a large family provides more opportunity for bad things to happen.  When Meredith fractured her skull, we had to adjust our life to accommodate her healing.  During this time, I taught both Meredith and Annelise how to pray.  My relationship (and their's) with God changed.  I began praying more, learning more, and looking to the Saints for guidance in living a holy life.  It was the same when Katherine was born and was so sick.  I learned to depend on God and look to an everlasting life.  Recently, we had a health scare with one of our other children.  We chose to keep it to ourselves until we found the results.  This took almost two months.  I prayed harder than I ever had.  I also knew this time that I could handle the outcome because God's plan always proved to be better than my own.  Luckily, the results were what we hoped for and a crisis had been averted.

The death of my father is still a struggle for me.  I feel his presence and sense his love daily.  I miss his smile.  I wish that my children could know him.  I can thank God  for the other hardships but this one is more difficult.  I know that St. Paul meant "all circumstances" but I am not at the point that I can thank God for taking my Daddy.  I am not mad at Him about it and I am so happy for my dad that he is in heaven.  However, thanking God is still hard.

Last year, I listened to Father Gary give a homily about being thankful.  He suggested keeping a gratitude journal.  I decided to write a Facebook post everyday  about the things that I was thankful for.  I have that print out to remind myself how easy it was to think of 30 things.  I plan to continue that experience this year.  I hope to inspire you to do the same.