Be Thankful Always, Not Just During Lent
I've never been one to celebrate Lent.
Not exactly true though, since I've always acknowledged it, appreciated it, and enjoyed watching and hearing people's experiences with giving things up and cutting things out in order to have a better focus on the 40 days of the season. But I've never actually chosen to give anything up myself. I always thought, "what's the point, I'll fail anyways", just like all of the New Years resolutions I see fade or forgotten altogether around the middle of January each year. But, this year is different for me.
Not exactly true though, since I've always acknowledged it, appreciated it, and enjoyed watching and hearing people's experiences with giving things up and cutting things out in order to have a better focus on the 40 days of the season. But I've never actually chosen to give anything up myself. I always thought, "what's the point, I'll fail anyways", just like all of the New Years resolutions I see fade or forgotten altogether around the middle of January each year. But, this year is different for me.
God has blessed me greatly during the past 16 months with a relationship that has stretched me, grown me, and made me better in many ways as a daughter of Christ trying to love another person as God loves me. One way this relationship has grown me is by bringing out some of my not-so-great characteristics that need growth or even to be cut out altogether. For example, I can be incredibly anxious and stubborn, and these two qualities don't always mix well when you're trying to love someone as much and as well as you possibly can. But another quality in myself that has been brought to light recently and is need of some serious work is my negativity and the way I easily fall into an attitude of complaining.
For lent this year, my boyfriend and I have decided to be more intentional about cutting out complaining and negativity in our day-to-day conversations, replacing them with being grateful for where we are & thankful for what we've been given so graciously from God.
Falling into complaining and negativity is a trap we often walk straight into instead of even attempting to avoid. We have long days, we're exhausted, classes are hard, relationships are work, money is tight, and it feels good to get things off our chests and just vent sometimes. But something we have discovered recently in our own relationship is that there is a HUGE difference in venting and talking things through vs. dwelling in negatively and a complaining attitude about things we cannot or aren't willing to change at all. The first is often necessary and good for the soul because, really, you've gotta get it out sometimes before you can accept things you can't change and move on. But the other is toxic and damaging to yourself AND the people around you who may or may not be participating in it along with you. We tend to, very quickly and without even realizing it, jump the fence separating a good old-fashion venting session from straight up complaining about things that we aren't in control of and just make us more frustrated the longer we talk. It's not good, it's not healthy, it's not sanctifying. If anything, it's been drawing me farther away from Christ and the life I should be pursuing in Him and for Him. It's getting in the way of noticing my blessings and how well-off I truly am. But it's so, SO easy to fall into, over and over and over again.
But you might be thinking, shouldn't we be trying to avoid this cycle even after the 40 days of Lent is over? Shouldn't negativity, complaining, and bitterness be something we cast off and work at keeping out of our conversations and hearts on a day-to-day basis? NOW we're getting somewhere.
By choosing this goal for Lent, I'm choosing it as a goal to last as long as it takes to make a real change in my life for the better, not just for the next 40ish days. I haven't noticed this as an issue and a growing problem since the past year. Living on a small campus (and almost being ready to leave), I can be so quick to focus on the things that aren't fair, aren't enough, and aren't as I think they should be, when in reality I know that I'm so incredibly blessed to be in this place, as imperfect as it is, for this short 4-year chapter of my life. My mom has always told me, "no place is perfect." Amen and hallelujah to that. No place, no city, no school, no church, no home, no family, and definitely no living space is perfect. Since we live in a broken and sinful world, we won't ever experience a perfect place, time, or day until Jesus returns & we pass out of our temporary home and into our eternal one.
So, from now until then...what should we do?
We are called to be thankful (always).
I am soooo so bad at this, really. I definitely tend to be more realistic and even pessimistic about things, so I find it difficult to automatically focus on the good stuff when the bad stuff just seems so much bigger at the time. Obviously, this can be easier or harder depending on the situation God is calling you to walk through right now or things that you may or may not experience in the future. We often envy other people's lives wishing our own was easier, thinking that the grass is truly greener on their side- but none of us are called to live easy, worry-free lives. In fact, we've been told the exact opposite; that as Christians we will live lives with troubles and trials, both big and small (John 16:33). But even through this, we are still called to be thankful people living a life of service for God and the furthering of His kingdom. It seems impossible to think that we should be (and need to be) thankful through thick and thin, sickness and health, heartbreak and love, joy and pain, loss and gain- but it's extremely true and critical that as believers we cling to this truth and live it out.
As believers, we're called to be thankful in ALL circumstances- not just the good ones (1 Thessalonians 5:18). Not just when we feel like it, when we have a great day, when the dining hall has great food or when the class we hate finally gets cancelled. We're called to give thanks in ALL situations. Easier said than done, of course! Naturally we are discontent people, living in a broken and sinful world that tries to drag us down into negativity and complaining with it as much as possible. But I really do believe that the first step in avoiding this mindset and attitude altogether is starting with an intentional and purposeful attitude of thankfulness. Every time I'm tempted during this season of Lent to complain or be negative about things that I can't change or control, my goal is to instead think of something I can be thankful for. Something good that happened that day, that week, or something I'm looking forward to in the future.
"God, it just really bites that ____________ happened, but I'm so thankful that I have been given ____________ ...and ____________ ...and, yeah, ____________ too, now that I think of it." This is an entire change of perspective, I know, and it's never easy to change your mindset entirely at once, and that's not what I'm expecting even from myself. It'll take time, I'm prepared to stumble and fall, but it'll be something I'll need to be constantly in prayer and intentional about. And I've found that just like the conversation with God I just wrote, as soon as you think of one thing you can be thankful for, more and more things usually come flooding into your mind, because really, there's an endless list of things we've been blessed with that would be impossible to count.
So here I am, one full week into Lent, with a new goal and a new perspective in mind going forward. I'm choosing to give something up, definitely, but I'm also choosing to take on a new attitude and mindset. I challenge you all who are reading to take a day, a week, or the entire 40 days of Lent to be purposefully and intentionally thankful, even if you don't feel like it and it seems impossible. Even when the days are long, the sleep is short, classes are rough, relationships are work, and you just aren't feeling it. May Lent be a restoring & renewing time for you all as we remember that, through Christ's death and resurrection, we truly only live because He lives in us.
But you might be thinking, shouldn't we be trying to avoid this cycle even after the 40 days of Lent is over? Shouldn't negativity, complaining, and bitterness be something we cast off and work at keeping out of our conversations and hearts on a day-to-day basis? NOW we're getting somewhere.
By choosing this goal for Lent, I'm choosing it as a goal to last as long as it takes to make a real change in my life for the better, not just for the next 40ish days. I haven't noticed this as an issue and a growing problem since the past year. Living on a small campus (and almost being ready to leave), I can be so quick to focus on the things that aren't fair, aren't enough, and aren't as I think they should be, when in reality I know that I'm so incredibly blessed to be in this place, as imperfect as it is, for this short 4-year chapter of my life. My mom has always told me, "no place is perfect." Amen and hallelujah to that. No place, no city, no school, no church, no home, no family, and definitely no living space is perfect. Since we live in a broken and sinful world, we won't ever experience a perfect place, time, or day until Jesus returns & we pass out of our temporary home and into our eternal one.
So, from now until then...what should we do?
We are called to be thankful (always).
I am soooo so bad at this, really. I definitely tend to be more realistic and even pessimistic about things, so I find it difficult to automatically focus on the good stuff when the bad stuff just seems so much bigger at the time. Obviously, this can be easier or harder depending on the situation God is calling you to walk through right now or things that you may or may not experience in the future. We often envy other people's lives wishing our own was easier, thinking that the grass is truly greener on their side- but none of us are called to live easy, worry-free lives. In fact, we've been told the exact opposite; that as Christians we will live lives with troubles and trials, both big and small (John 16:33). But even through this, we are still called to be thankful people living a life of service for God and the furthering of His kingdom. It seems impossible to think that we should be (and need to be) thankful through thick and thin, sickness and health, heartbreak and love, joy and pain, loss and gain- but it's extremely true and critical that as believers we cling to this truth and live it out.
As believers, we're called to be thankful in ALL circumstances- not just the good ones (1 Thessalonians 5:18). Not just when we feel like it, when we have a great day, when the dining hall has great food or when the class we hate finally gets cancelled. We're called to give thanks in ALL situations. Easier said than done, of course! Naturally we are discontent people, living in a broken and sinful world that tries to drag us down into negativity and complaining with it as much as possible. But I really do believe that the first step in avoiding this mindset and attitude altogether is starting with an intentional and purposeful attitude of thankfulness. Every time I'm tempted during this season of Lent to complain or be negative about things that I can't change or control, my goal is to instead think of something I can be thankful for. Something good that happened that day, that week, or something I'm looking forward to in the future.
"God, it just really bites that ____________ happened, but I'm so thankful that I have been given ____________ ...and ____________ ...and, yeah, ____________ too, now that I think of it." This is an entire change of perspective, I know, and it's never easy to change your mindset entirely at once, and that's not what I'm expecting even from myself. It'll take time, I'm prepared to stumble and fall, but it'll be something I'll need to be constantly in prayer and intentional about. And I've found that just like the conversation with God I just wrote, as soon as you think of one thing you can be thankful for, more and more things usually come flooding into your mind, because really, there's an endless list of things we've been blessed with that would be impossible to count.
So here I am, one full week into Lent, with a new goal and a new perspective in mind going forward. I'm choosing to give something up, definitely, but I'm also choosing to take on a new attitude and mindset. I challenge you all who are reading to take a day, a week, or the entire 40 days of Lent to be purposefully and intentionally thankful, even if you don't feel like it and it seems impossible. Even when the days are long, the sleep is short, classes are rough, relationships are work, and you just aren't feeling it. May Lent be a restoring & renewing time for you all as we remember that, through Christ's death and resurrection, we truly only live because He lives in us.
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