Trying hard to be thankful and unexpected Joy

“You will show me the path of life;
In Your presence is fullness of joy;
At Your right hand are pleasures forevermore.”

Psalm 16:11

Trying to be thankful all day is hard work.  I am retraining my brain and my heart – less complaining and griping, more thanking.  But I have been grouching to God for so many years that my standard method of communication with Him is to:

1.   Whine
2.   Plead
3.   Whine some more, perhaps listing my grievances
4.   And then say by the way, thanks

I rationalize this by saying “At least I’m talking to Him.”  But this doesn’t lead to a very joyful or joy-filled life.  So when the complaining thoughts come, I am trying to quickly come up with something about the situation to be thankful for – not always easy.  While walking my dog this morning, down the street came a neighbor with 2 unleashed dogs.  My first thought was “expletive, I hate when dogs are off leash” and then I was getting ready to say some not nice things to the neighbor.  But I remembered that I was trying to be thankful so I turned around and went a different way.  I said thank you that the dogs were small and couldn’t reach us quickly, I said thank you that I didn’t yell at my neighbor.  I also realized that the different walk was prettier –  I hadn’t walked that direction in quite some time.

While headed back home I saw the sun filtering through the trees and it stopped me in my tracks.  I took out my phone quickly trying to snap a photo.  But the darn telephone pole kept getting in the way.  As I took the photo I saw the unexpected beauty – the pole is a cross.  Sometimes when we look beyond the surface we find surprising joy.  The cross was a horrible way to die, but Jesus’ death on the cross lead to His resurrection and our salvation.  What could be more beautiful and surprising than that?