Now that we are here…

I am a whiner.  Often.  I am aware of this and I try not to be.  However, small whines often leak out of me unopposed.  Now that I have confessed this huge character flaw of mine, I can tell you that for this month I have tried to pray only my thanks and praise.  I have severely limited my petitions to God, catching myself from launching into a litany of wants and worries and desires in favor of just thanks.   Frankly, this has been easy – mostly, because there are very few things I need right now. The prayers and desires of the last four or five years have been answered in the form of our sold house, our sold businesses, our joint retirement, and our move to our beautiful island.  We are truly in a season right now between any real storms or trials, and being thankful is easy.  Even before the house sold, I was able to thank God for our realtor and for the people who looked at the house – mostly because I was confident it would sell quickly.  Even before the business sale closed, I was able to thank God for the plan He had for us and the young couple who were working to get it purchased from us.  Even though we had to say “so long” to many very precious friends when we left Wyoming, I could thank God that they are in my life, that email and phones will keep us in touch, and that airplanes will bring us back together again. All is well with my life and my soul right now.

So why do I still whine?

Hmmm, that’s the question for the ages, huh?  The Israelites whined in the desert when the very hand of God fed them manna each morning but they wanted pizza or waffles, or filet. Thomas whined that he needed to touch the wounds in Jesus’ hands before he’d truly get it.  Job’s friends all advised him to whine when life got tough.  So, I have heard myself whine about the bugs and sand that invaded my house in the months we were gone, I’ve whined about the heat (not much, but when you are scrubbing and the breeze dies down and you aren’t yet used to the warmth and humidity, well…).

So here’s the plan:  I was going to just do this thankfulness experiment for the month of November – then, presumably I’d go back to a prayer life of serious whining and asking God for my usual laundry list of menial and quite unimportant desires.  I’ve decided that’s not enough.  It isn’t who I want to be.  I want to praise God in the storms as well as the calm days.  I want to have a heart that celebrates the Creator of the Universe for all His decisions.  I want to be intentional about what I ask Him for.  I want to be intentional about noticing how He works and moves in my life.  I want to be Thankful.

Happy Thanksgiving to you!