THANKFUL FOR DISAPPOINTMENTS

Day 355 of 365 days

I have always been, and hope to always be, a self-reflective person. That is, I seek to live in awareness of how I live life. I am aware of how time is spent and how resources are used. I feel that this year, in particular, has lent itself to larger swaths of people engaging in self-reflection. I am not a go-go-go person, but many in my life are. I’ve seen friends and family slow down and yield to the restrictions of life-on-the-go. Travel has been dramatically reduced or cancelled, business opportunities have been lost, and many have had to reassess the end goal of their life’s work.

While losses have been tremendous and disappointments abound, we are all invited to a collective reflection: Can I trust God in these losses? Can I grieve in the space granted me by these cancellations? Can I use this time differently than I have been? I'm grateful that more and more, I am noticing people slowing their lives down just enough to ask themselves hard questions.

I don’t know what you are going through right now that causes you to hesitate to be thankful despite your pain and disappointments. I know what we’re going through and we sure don’t like it. But God can redeem this pain. And for that we give thanks.