Monday, April 9, 2012

"G" IS FOR . . . GRATITUDE!


Have you ever had one of those days where things did not go according to plan, or it just went downhill after you managed to crawl out of bed?  The dog wouldn't even wag his tail as you walked by--but bared his teeth and snarled?  People didn't smile at you, even if you smiled at them first?  Or, you tried to handle some business by phone, but could not get through?  I recently got the recorded message, "All our representatives are currently helping other customers.  Please remain on the line and the first available representative will take your call.  You have a wait time of 45 minutes.  Thank you." 

If the last item sounds crazy, I did not make it up--I was handling something for my mother (you guessed it--with a government agency), and my wait time was actually 45 minutes.  I put the call on speaker and simply worked on the computer until "my turn."  Of course, once I got a live person, I was transferred a few times and had to explain myself each time, but I finally accomplished what I needed to do.  Whew!

I said all that to say this:  oftentimes, it is downright hard to have an attitude of gratitude.  Life happens, and it isn't always a bed of roses.  (By the way, who coined that phrase?  Why would a bed of roses represent something comfortable or something that turned out right?  Roses have thorns, so what idiot would even want a bed of roses??).  But I digress.

Something happened recently that upset me greatly.  I just did not understand why those who had promised to do something had let me down, and then didn't even seem to care that they had broken their promise!  I mean, it didn't really seem very important to them at all.  (Before I proceed further, I want to make it clear that these people were not family members, thankfully.)

It wasn't something trivial, but rather important to me, actually.  I knew my attitude was wrong, so I took it to the Lord in prayer.  I asked for wisdom, a change of heart, and gratitude that so many other things in my life have gone so right.  As I prayed and asked the Lord for His help in changing my hurt feelings, He brought to my mind all those things for which I am blessed.  As I went over them in my mind, I could feel that my anger and resentment were just ebbing away.  My pity party was over, and I was able to have victory over this problem.

Oh, it is so easy to glibly tell people to let go of negative feelings, to pray about them, and to turn them over to the Lord, but it just isn't that easy to DO.  I knew my anger and hurt would eventually subside on the surface, but I didn't want buried resentment, either.  So, I thanked Him for all the things in my life, realizing that nothing happens in a Christian's life without God's permission--even so-called bad or negative things.  So:  why did these circumstances occur in my life?  We don't always know why, but then, God is not obligated to explain Himself to us.  We must simply trust Him and His reasons.  I did decide that perhaps one reason was to make me take stock of myself.  I am sure that there have been times in my life when I have let others down, maybe not intentionally--but rather than casting stones at others, I'd better look inwardly and make certain that my life is what it should be.

I am grateful for my Lord who answers prayer.  I could not have gotten rid of the resentful and hurt feelings on my own.  I would have been able to go on, of course, but I didn't want to carry around the baggage of those feelings.  And now, they're gone.  He took them away, and for that, I have much gratitude.  I can move on, live my life, and not have any resentment toward those who seemed not to care. 

It is no longer my problem, anyway!

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