Giving Thanks Always

Keeping an attitude of thanks and praise keeps our eyes focused on God and not ourselves.

A couple of days ago, a little orange light with a wrench on it, popped up on my dashboard. I panicked of course. What did it mean? Was it bad? As soon as I could park, I flipped through my owner’s manual until I found it. It simply meant that I needed to get my car serviced. What a relief.

The next morning, I took it to my mechanic around 9:00. They are always super backed up. There were like six people in the waiting area. I told them I was leaving it, but coming back in about an hour. I did come back and the car wasn’t ready. I had to wait and I waited until a short time after noon. I was very annoyed.

I was fuming on my drive home. I told them I wasn’t leaving it all day. Why did I actually have to be sitting there for the car to go to the front of the line? I had so much I needed to get done that wouldn’t.

Then I heard a little voice in my head that seemed to whisper, “These are first world problems.”

I was reminded of a report that I had heard on the radio the day before about children in Haiti literally eating sand so their stomachs wouldn’t hurt from hunger pains. I had been so moved that I unsuccessfully fought back tears. Life is so unfair sometimes.

Was I really going to be angry about having to wait on my car?

I asked God to forgive my selfishness and then I began to give thanks. I gave thanks that I had a car to begin with; many people don’t have one. I gave thanks that I had the money to get it serviced; many people don’t. I gave thanks for an honest mechanic. Many of them aren’t. I gave thanks that it wasn’t a huge repair needed.

It’s difficult to remain angry when I am thanking God for His many blessings in my life.

I also had to remind myself that my to-do list really wasn’t that big of a deal. It’s not like I was going to be late for performing a heart transplant. But, sometimes it’s easy for me to get totally self-focused on what I want and then to get frustrated or angry when my plans get knocked off course. Maybe that’s the case for you too?

The Bible tells us to give thanks in all circumstances. Sometimes that’s really easy and sometimes it seems nearly impossible, yet it’s what we are called to do. I’ve really been working on having a thankful heart. I’ve really been working on prayers of praise, instead of always praying with my hand out.

Prayers of praise and thankfulness take the focus off of me and put it on God, where it is supposed to be. When I get it right, which is certainly not always, my entire attitude changes and I find there is little room for anger and frustration.

A little orange wrench reminded me of that. Perhaps you needed reminding too.

Have an awesome day!

Wendy 🙂