Five things I never previously realised I was gratefulfor—that was what I needed to write about! It is probably the most challenging subject I’ve encountered so far—at least for me personally. After days of procrastinating, I finally realised that I had to be ruthlessly honest and truthful. Otherwise, this ‘pausing’ in thankfulness would be a mere affectation, just words on a screen or a page with no depth and no true meaning.
I finally realised that I had to be ruthlessly honest and truthful. Otherwise, this ‘pausing’ in thankfulness would be a mere affectation, just words on a screen or a page with no depth and no true meaning.
So here are my top five things for which I am grateful:
- Eyes to see – my children’s laughing faces, the swatch of colour as a mop brush sweeps across watercolour paper, words on a page, my husband’s amused grin, swaying palm branches atop coconut trees, fluffy clouds scudding across a bright azure sky, frothy cerulean waves lapping golden sand…
- Ears to hear – melody and lyric in perfect harmony, children laughing and squealing as they play, and the blessed silence when they are asleep, beloved voices across several miles but startlingly clear over the phone, a baby’s cries…
- Friendships – grown stronger despite distance and lockdowns, friends whom I can call at any time absolutely sure they’ll pick up, a community to lean on when the going gets extremely tough, camaraderie and companionship that remind me I’m not alone in this, where I can be absolutely, gut-wrenchingly honest and know that I am accepted not condemned…
- Tears – weeping for all the loss and pain, expressing grief and sorrow, finding relief in the blessed release of tears, feeling the heavy rock lift from my heart as the tears course down my cheeks, lamenting tangibly and finding succour in the lamenting, realising that tears can be comforting…
- Hope – amidst death and disease all around, understanding a measure of what Jesus accomplished on the cross—“Death, where is thy sting; grave, where is thy victory?”*—no longer mere words but a clarion call igniting dying hope, breathing life into dry bones, stiffening weary limbs, setting my face as flint as I run the race set before me. Not wishful thinking but an audacious conviction; not cowardly avoidance but a valiant confidence; a steadfast assurance that this is merely a journey and death is just a doorway to life!
For these I am truly grateful.
* I Corinthians 15:55
