I have long been a believer in the power and beauty of a simple thank you. It is a wonder, then, that having come across the Gratitude Community at Holy Experience–individuals committed to focusing on finding simple thanks in the everyday gifts of a gracious God–it has taken me several weeks if not months to add my personal praises. Why such silence? I am not sure.

Perhaps it is because at times bitterness overtakes us, me, and I choose to suppress a thankful heart. Other times are showered in such pleasant bliss that gratefulness must certainly be evident, so there appears no need to express it. Maybe it is more than that. Often we forge ahead in this walk, seeking out God’s path, battling those who would drag us from it or even, however well-meaning the intention, would lay themselves across it as obstacles in our pursuit of God’s will. It is difficult for us, me, to find thanks when the path God has set aside for me is pitted with pain, difficulty, and discouragement. This heart of mine is weak and wavers…not my faith, my heart. While my words may shock the stalwart few, it is my personal truth. It is not easy to thank God when His way is difficult, His voice seems distant, His path is unclear, or His idea of what we can handle is just a bit more than ours, even with His help. When the ungodly claw, the churched discourage, and the path is undefined, it is hard to thank He who has the power to right all things on earth, but chooses not to.

And yet, in Christ there is joy. In Him there is hope and true life and a love none can know apart from Him. Even on the dark and pitted path, the rocky road, the lonely desert way, He is there, His grace guides, His hard lessons teach, and there is a need for this humble heart to give thanks.

I bend to this task with a willing heart.

My thousand thanks…the first of many:

1. As a starting point, the obvious: My husband, our children, our home, health, job…all the obvious! So often that which is too obvious is overlooked.

2. I am thankful that the small shivering boy beside my bed at 2 a.m. has merely wet the bed and is shivering with cold, rather than having thrown up with the shivering effects of a 104 fever. Experience and a media-driven fear of swine flu speak loudly at 2 a.m. I can smile and mean it as I tuck his small body in a warm bed and hear his whispered “T’ank you, Mommy.”

3. There is little as endearing as the small cry of a baby seeking her mother in the darkness, calling out, knowing Mama will come, knowing Mama will fold her close and fill the small tummy with sweet, warm nectar. I am undyingly grateful to be chosen as this child’s mother, the comforter, nursing under a quilt of darkness when all others sleep, inhaling deeply the infant smells, her small body relaxing into mine in an embrace of trust and drowsiness. This is our time: hers and mine and His.

4. No words can express how precious it is to me that my girls have a father, caring, involved, devoted, and wise. There are no words for such a treasure.

5. Likewise, it is with pleasure that I watch my son emulate his Daddy, knowing that if the little one is an exact replica of his father, faults and all, I will thank God for giving us such a man! (Naturally, I will still blame the faults on his Daddy. Which reminds me…number 6.)

6. While I blame, he forgives. I thank God for a patient husband. While that may seem obvious, I also thank God for the less-patient man my husband was when we first wed, for all the mistakes, the pain, and the growth we have weathered together. It makes every day with him sweeter and more precious.

7. I find it difficult to thank God for my dog after he ate the only tomato I have successfully been able to grow despite nine years of effort in our desert. Yet, when I thought he was dying last night, moaning over the effects of the toxic nightshade leaves he ingested during his garden raid, I realized I would, indeed, miss his forgiving temper, expectant face, exuberant greetings, and protectiveness. For those things I am grateful…although not exuberantly so. (Did I mention the importance of honesty in our gratitude?)

8. I am even more grateful that I did not have to drag a dying 130-pound dog across the house, into the van, and to the vet 70 minutes away at 11 at night.

9. A mother’s heart warms at fists full of pollen-ridden weeds affectionately deposited in a noxious pile in the family kitchen. “For you, Mommy!” Young hand across nose, rubbing eyes as they tear and swell. I am grateful that we found a natural allergy-reliever for the child who loves nature, but whose affections are greeted with sneezing, swollen eyes, and misery.

10. Truly, I am thankful that the three-year-old boy belting out his ABCs at the upper decibel levels, jarring awake our nap-aversive baby, can, indeed, sing, learn, and love…as evidenced by the exuberance with which he pounces on the little sister as soon as (or often before) her eyes flicker open, smothering her in kisses until she cries for Mama’s rescue. For the promises these glimpses of my future man hold, I am grateful.

I lift these thanks to the almighty God.

Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights.

If you visit Holy Experience’s Gratitude Community, I encourage you to wander through Ann’s site. She has a gift and a humble heart, a rare combination.

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