Thanks for the complaint

“If God really works ineverything, why don’t we thank Him for everything? Why do we accept good from His hand — and not bad?”

“I never likedMondays, or bad news or breaking in new shoes. And morning when I can’t find my phone. Nobody likes traffic, or short nights, or sit-ups or long flights, butsometimes that’s just the way it goes. It’s funny what You use to help me grow.” – Mandissa – These Days

We are all heading into the week of Thanksgiving.  I have seen lots of lists of things people are thankful for circulating both on blogs and on Facebook.   I have even felt a bit guilty for now making my own list.  It would have been very easy to post something that I am thankful for each day of the month.  My husband, my children, my parents, my home, my friends, etc.   It is so easy to be thankful for the blessings.  The good.  The easy.  The things that make me happy.  The things I enjoy.  But what about all the rest of life.  The bad, the hard, the things that bring my frustration, the things I don’t look forward to?  Am I thankful for those? 

James 1:2

Consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters, wheneveryou face trials of many kinds,  becauseyou know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance.  Let perseverance finish its work so that youmay be mature and complete, not lacking anything.

So from now until Thanksgiving I will purpose to be thankful for the things, situations and people that test my faith for the purpose of perseverance to finish its work that I may be mature and complete lacking nothing.

Today I am thankful for complaints against me.  Whether it be in the form of not pleasing someone in my home, an extended family member, someone at my workplace or someone at church.  This helps me learn the lesson that I cannot please everyone.  It reminds me that I am the servant and not The Source.  Although sometimes I feel I may not be pleasing anyone, I know that is not truth.  Today I purpose to do what I can with what I have and to put priority on pleasing the only one that matters, Jesus.  And in pleasing Him I am bound to please some of the others.