Thankful, it’s a word I don’t often hear outside of the thanksgiving season, but this year, I’m thankful for thankfulness. I honestly don’t know how to express my thankfulness. Every idea I’ve had seems to pale in comparison to the gift I’ve received of this year. You just can’t thank somebody for investing in your life by writing a note or a card. It’s funny that that’s also how grace works.
Perhaps, like grace, the only way to adequately express thankfulness is to walk in it daily and pass this spirit on to everyone you meet.
Because we have finished the Race, I decided that now would be a good time to read the note I wrote to myself on day one to remind myself of where I was and where I am now. I am so incredibly thankful for the freedom that God has taught me, the boldness of identity, the self awareness, and for teaching me how to hear and obey His voice so I can be actively in His plan.
I am also so incredibly thankful for those of you who invested in my life over the past year.
Friends and family back home who supported me financially and spiritually. Ministry hosts that provided the challenges and opportunities to see God at work.
Team members and leadership that showed me how my beliefs and actions hurt others and guided me patiently into a more loving, patient, and peaceful identity.
My Father who had lovingly guided me into and out of situations to grow me into the man He desires me to be.
I’m thankful for all these things but I’m more thankful that God brought me to a place where I could see all these blessings. There have been many situations on the race where I had to choose to be thankful.
When hiking through the Himalayas, my enamoured attitude quickly faded as the monsoon rains poured down and thankfulness became a choice rather than a response.
In the heart of India with the creepy crawlies and heat, my love for the culture and community became very difficult to maintain and thankfulness became a choice.
All of the most difficult points of the race have provided me an opportunity to choose thankfulness. Ironically, those were also the best months of the race because I had to learn to choose a lifestyle of thankfulness. When living a lifestyle of thankfulness, it somehow grows community, humility, and generally positive attitudes that are unaffected by situations.
So as wierd as it sounds, I’m thankful for thankfulness.
