It Makes One Think

There’s nothing like a few disruptions in your schedule to give you pause and think, “What!!???!” A heavy chest cold, some canceled participation in events, really good cold and snowy weather you can’t enjoy like you would want to, head floating, like, in the ethereal clouds of making it through the day forgetting to eat lunch and not even remember if you did eat or not…until you think about it around dinner time. And some of the worst cough filled sleeping time!

Is this how life is supposed to be? This is aging gracefully? These are my options? What gives? Where do I find my next measure of strength? Order? Structure? Wellness? No! I’m not going to the doctor!

It makes one think.

As my eyes swim across the screen filling with words like ants marching out of their underground home, I pause and re-read and wonder, hmmm, where am I going with this? Wait. Oh. No. Now I remember.

It makes one think!

I imagine a time, not too terribly long ago when there was no medicine, no doctor visits readily available, and you simply took home medicinal remedies and persevered. Recovery was often a drawn-out time of steadily aiming to be the person you were before, but many did not survive.

So for a lot of reasons this morning, I’m thinking I should be more thankful!

  • Thankful for this modern world of medicines that can get you through the most agonizing hours in the middle of the night. Although, sometimes the cure is worse than the ailment!
  • Thankful you are able to chat on the phone and conduct some business and feel the strength of recovery keep the coughing in the background!
  • Thankful to know that there are backup’s behind backups… Someone ready to step in and step up.
  • Thankful for friends from far away who think to ask, “Is all well?”
  • Thankful for a bride who loves and cares.
  • Thankful for returning health that breaths new hope into some tired bones and muscles.
  • Thankful that my mind and eyes are still working well to enjoy some words on the page and screen.
  • I’m just thankful.

The Psalms record many times how thankful King David was, and his words instruct us how thankful we should be. Repeatedly, “Oh give thanks to the Lord…” More than any other biblical writer he often dips into his phrase book and utters, “Give thanks…” In the good times, and the bad, think about what you need the most and “Give thanks…” Instead of complaining, griping, or arguing with yourself about the status you find yourself in, “Give thanks…”

I am always more appreciative of a person who has a thankful attitude than one who tells you about every ailment!

Maybe this is where I’m thinking the most this morning. Let us learn to be thankful for all the things around us that we can appreciate, but let us also be thankful to God for the best reasons of all.

 Oh, give thanks to the LORD, for He is good! For His mercy endures forever. (Psalms 107:1 NKJV)

By Michael Gurley

Making Sense of Life, One Thought at a Time!