The words stung and then floated off into the universe. I was only in my 20’s, attending a gathering of friends one night when a 4 year old said those seven powerful words to me. “Take what you’ve got and be thankful.”
Wow! Really? It’s uncanny, sometimes, what the tender trusting innocence of a kid can teach the most seasoned grown up. I had been complaining about something and she simply stated a lesson she had learned at church. “ Take what you’ve got and be thankful.” The lesson, taught to me by this young girl who probably couldn’t even tie her own shoes, put me in my place (rightly so) and will forever stick with me.
It is so easy to take what we have for granted; our homes, our jobs, our health, our safety, our loved ones. I see people all the time who have forgotten what really matters. We look at our lives through the ‘Negative’ window. We see what we don’t have, what we wish we had, what we are missing, or what someone else is enjoying, and we forget that there is another window. Through the ‘Positive’ window, should we choose to look, we see that we are very, very blessed. Granted, we may not have all that we want, but we do have all that we need.
When life has dealt us some blows, it is easy to sink inside of ourselves and wallow in our pain. It is almost impossible not to go there – at least for a while. But at some point, we have to pull ourselves up by the bootstraps and force our stubborn, self-centered eyes to look elsewhere. There IS something to be thankful for, if we will only make ourselves look for it.
While those words were spoken to me over 2 decades ago, I am taken back to that moment from time to time. It is a good lesson for life. What are you thankful for? (Life? Health? Work? Shelter? Food? Nature?) Who are you thankful for? (a spouse who sticks with you even when you screw up? a good friend? your children? God?) What are you thankful you don’t have? (Illness? Debt? Addictions? An empty space where your loved one used to be?)
You may not have what you want at this point in your life, but you most likely want far more than what you need. I challenge you to try looking at what you DO have versus what you don’t. You might just be surprised by what you see . . . and you might find yourself grateful.
Our Blog