Yet I Will Praise Him

It's been a great week. It's been a busy week. It's been a fun week. In some ways it's been a spiritually challenging week. How about you?

I was so glad for Thankful Thursday yesterday. I needed the fresh breeze of gratitude to blow through my mind and home, scattering the dust of discontent that had settled, unnoticed, into my heart. Discontentment is subtle like that. It will descend into certain areas of my life when I'm not actively grateful, "entering His courts with thanksgiving." I guess gratitude is sort of a "spiritual swiffer" that way!

Yesterday morning I was on a brief phone call with a friend before we started our homeschool day and I casually mentioned to her, "I've decided I'm going to be thankful ALL day. For everything. In everything." At that moment I saw that my son was putting his laundry into the washer (his Thursday chore) so I added, "Like, I'm just glad the washing machine is working!" We ended our call and, grasping my attitude of gratitude, I went about my morning routine preparing for school.

A few moments later my son burst into the room.

"Mom! Mom! Something's wrong with the washing machine!"

Sure enough, as I walked into the laundry room, my footsteps turned into splashes as I realized I was standing in water. Hm.

We immediately turned the machine off, grabbed mop, bucket, and towels and began sopping up the water. My son nimbly and helpfully jumped behind the washer and dryer where I couldn't fit (we have a tiny laundry room) and he worked and worked with the towels I handed him, making sure it was dry all along the baseboards. I turned the dial to drain the remaining water out of the drum and we spent the remainder of the day with wet, soapy clothes in the washer and a disconnected dryer sitting in the kitchen. I should've taken photos. It was pretty.

What of the thankfulness that I had expressed for a "washer that works?" Within moments of making that statement, the very thing I had been thankful for was gone. Was it wasted gratitude? Absolutely not! I found that the act of expressing gratitude for that very thing actually increased my capacity to be thankful in the "crisis" (I'll use that term loosely in this situation!) involving it. It was like stretching before a workout. In that moment, the washer might have been incapacitated, but my gratitude didn't have to be. I was thankful for a helpful son. For a shelf full of absorbent towels. That we hadn't turned the washer on and left the house. And now I have a clean, sparkly laundry room floor!

I'm thankful for Iris, who reminds us each Thursday to express our thanks. I'm thankful for God's Word, which reminds us that we should have that attitude every day of our lives, and gives us so much for which to be grateful. I'm thankful for thankfulness itself! And I'm thankful it's Friday.

Have a wonderful weekend! Love y'all!