On Sunday morning Rob asked if we were content. How concentrated are we on being thankful, giving thanks for what we have, for being grateful for where we are? Contentment. Sometimes we forget to concentrate on that, to search out thankfulness, to be grateful, to be content right where we are.
I have just finished reading One Thousand Gifts by Ann Voskamp, an amazing wave of thoughts by a woman whose heart and mind is on the constant search for thankfulness. She calls it Eucharisteo...thankfulness, the constant search for it in her life, right where she is, to live her life fully in joy...her needing to see the joy. Ann-Full-of-Grace dares us to be on the search too, to keep a journal of one thousand gifts. One thousand gifts of joy written down and numbered. I have taken on the dare and the name of her book is written long in my journal beside # 106.
I am generally a Polly-Anna thinker, I can find the things to be glad about…and I have known contentment. Right now I am content, I am. But sometimes it has been hard to find joy in an everyday life, even for us Polly-Anna types, where it seemed all we had to do was keep house. Where we had to do mundane things like keeping up with piles of laundry, washing dishes, making meals, caring for our family, caring for them for better or worse, in sickness and in health.
Joy, in our everyday, sometimes it seems impossible.
I remember the days when I was in the middle of it, I remember saying just under my breath, “ What a day! ” I was so tired of it all, sometimes I was near to exploding, letting it all out for everyone in the neighbourhood to hear, sometimes I was so close to tears and I wondered, is this all there is? But, just as soon as I said it, those three words, the ones that were always preceded by a deep sigh from my soul, something would happen, right then, right there…a bit of joy would come in. Right then, I would hear the little song in my head whose words are “This is the day the Lord has made let us rejoice and be glad in it.” That little song saved my heart and soul many times because of the joy it let in. My sigh was always replaced with a smile, enabling me, for a while, to see the brighter side. I loved that little song. I still do.
The words to the song are found in the section of scripture known as the Hallel, songs of praise, Psalm 113-118. These songs of praise were sung during the Passover celebration, including my little song. The Jewish people sang it. I love that. It was a reminder to them about the celebration of the Holy days, of how far God had brought them. God days, all days with God in them and of days that were yet to come. It is said that Jesus sang that song. That He sang it at the last supper and maybe even again in the garden that night. That amazing little song. I love knowing that, thinking it true. It would have been a comfort to His soul, a comfort to his heart and mind, knowing what He knew...the God-day that God had planned for Him, the Holy days and then all the days yet to come. A song of praise, a comfort, something to be thankful for...even for Jesus...what a day!
"This is the day the Lord has made, let us rejoice and be glad in it."
Psalm 118 : 24
A comfort, a little bit of joy, thankfulness to face the day and even the days yet to come…God’s graces, I'm writing them down, one by one and finding joy in my everyday.
