The "before" photo
Already in month three of The World Race, I have learned so much about myself, the world, and living in community. When the girls talked about getting tattoos in Thailand, I didn't have any plans to get one myself. But as I really thought about what I would get, were I to actually do it… I kept coming back to this principle life lesson that God's been working out in me: thankfulness.
Getting inked – yes, my other hand is holding onto Julie's quite tightly!
Being a person of gratitude comes with a cost. It's not easy when things get hard, there's no air conditioning, when I want to be the first to shower after a long, sweaty day of manual labor, or when I'm at odds with the person inside of me who doesn't want to do hard ministry and just wants to curl up in my cozy bed at home and read a book. Now, with all that being said, I have also discovered that in the midst of the difficulties of llife, I have so many reasons to be thankful. I have incredible, supportive family and friends from all over the world. I have health and the ability to walk and breathe and dance and laugh. I (most often) have a place to lay my head and a sleeping bag to sleep in. I have everything I need "for life and godliness," like it says in 2 Peter 1:3.
Me with my wonderful tattoo artist, King.
But the thing I'm also discovering about thankfulness is that it's a choice. We don't have to be crummy, bitter, or irritabe just because our situations go sour or things don't work out the way we plan. We can always choose joy. We can always find things to be thankful for.
The finished product "after" photo
There's so much power in decision – our choice to be thankful. Choosing "yes" to joy when life taunts us to throw a big old pity-party gives us a one-up on the disappointments. It can literally make or break the way we experience a moment. I have to come to find in my own life that the times I intentionally choose joy, gratitude and thankfulness – I experience the whole of something; the way the moment was meant to be lived to its full potential. So, hence my tattoo choice – the word thankful. I put it right on my finger to be a place where every time I take a sip of good wine, pay for the food I need to eat, play with a child's hair, or hold my lover's hand, I will see it and be reminded to be more and more thankful.
Thankful…
