I am not saying this because I am in need, for I have learned to be content whatever the circumstances. I know what it is to be in need, and I know what it is to have plenty. I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation, whether well fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or in want. I can do all this through him who gives me strength. -Phil. 4:11-13
The words sit before me. “I can do all this…”
All.
This.
I can do it.
I can give thanks for all things. But do I want to?
Really, isn’t that the root of why we do or don’t give thanks? Our want. We want to give thanks for the good things. We want to pull away from the hard things.
I can do it, but do I want to?
I’ve been wrestling back and forth with these words. CAN. WANT.
What CAN I do? What do I WANT to do?
And just when I feel like I’ve made headway, God whispers, “Now what are you called to do?”
OUCH.
We are called to give thanks.
And many times the things we are called to do are hard. They come with a struggle. They require a sacrifice. We say yes to one area and no to another. We open one door only to shut another. We play tug of war with our abilities and desires only to then acknowledge our callings require more than desires and lead us beyond our abilities.
And we need Jesus more than ever.
This week as we give thanks I’m pressing into the hard places of my heart. They corners of my life I would rather not uncover. The hurts and disappointments. The tears and the frustrations. And I’m saying, “Thank you for the struggle, Lord. Because it’s here, at the end of me that I find the beginning of you. You love me too much to leave how you found me, and sometimes refining is painful. But you’re a good, good father, and your goodness causes me to give thanks.”
Gratitude isn’t an option in the life of a believer. It’s not about what we can do, or want to do, it about what we are called to do.
We are called to give thanks. For all things. In all things. At all times.
Even the really, really, hard things.
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