Still Grateful

What are you grateful for?

6/28/22

I’m needing grateful to be a theme of my week. So I’m making it so. I wrote my midweek family message on gratitude, and in my preparation, I decided to get into the psalms, because they’re usually good at giving me grist for my family work. There are just so many emotions in there. And gratitude is one of them.

Something that I didn’t specifically share with the kids, but that I still alluded to is that gratitude happens, that people are thankful, even when the world is not perfect, when the situation is not the best for the folks involved, when there are still challenges to be faced and oppression still to be fought against. 

The psalmists drench their bed with tears and are still grateful. (Psalm 6:6)

The psalmists praise God from prison. (Psalm 142:7)

The psalmists cry out for justice, and with the same breath they call out their thanks. (Psalm 9)

I’m not saying that there is no reason to despair. I am saying that despair is not all there is. 

There is gratitude. I can, we can give thanks. To God. For things small and ordinary and large and momentous. 

I’m grateful for the prayers that I hold from the young folks I met on Saturday. 

I’m grateful for the temporary cool weather that has given us a break from the sweltering heat. 

I’m grateful for ice pops in a rainbow of colors and scissors to open them with and the ability to be extravagantly generous with them, sharing them with one pair for at least four return trips. 

I’m grateful for the first time I got to lead worship as an ordained elder in full connection, for the prayer I shared, and the story I told to the kids present. 

I’m grateful for a community that is willing to explore new ways of practicing ministry. 

I’m grateful for coffee, and leftover cake, and impromptu tea parties, and kids bursting with a surprise. 

I’m grateful for a night of unbroken rest, after two weeks of restless early mornings. 

I’m grateful for diverse stories, and libraries, and ebooks, and authors who give resources right after the dedication, before the story even begins. 

I’m grateful for colleagues who are navigating a bunch of different expressions of a shared situation, where we can share our experience and learn from various iterations around us. 

I’m grateful for people who use exclamation marks in emails, even if we’ve never met, with exuberance and extravagance. 

I am grateful.

even this can be gratefulness