Choosing the flowers

Sitting with a good old friend yesterday, clutching my mug of tea, I caught myself moaning. First it was the usual victim, British weather. But then I managed to find a negative side to nearly every situation until it hit me between the eyes that I was choosing this, and I hated it. I wondered why it came so naturally to me, why I couldn't 'just be grateful'.

In my house church in Ubon, we would always start with a time of worship, and then the question, "What are you grateful to God for, or how have you seen God at work this week?" A dozen people sat around the room would then take it in turns to share how they'd seen God's goodness to them. They would range from "I was really craving some deep fried pork this week and a friend brought some round... God even cares about my little desires, how much more will He satisfy the big ones"; to "I had severe asthma attacks which would leave me fearing for my life, and now I don't have them anymore, because He healed me". Out of poverty, they were boasting of God's generosity. In places of pain and desperation, their faces bore the glory of God as they acknowledged His goodness in the small things, answers to prayers they hadn't even got round to praying.

I don't believe gratitude came naturally to them, moaning and complaining is always the default setting. No, it didn't come easy; gratitude was a cultivated habit. Each week we would run out of time. Each week I would sit there mesmerised at God's goodness. Each person's story was a glimpse of His tender care. The more they learned to choose gratitude, the easier the choice got.

I wonder if we would think of these things if we were never asked the question. I have to admit I don't. I miss so many blessings, barely acknowledging the giver for the gift as I rush through life looking for the next thing. If His gifts were flowers, my life would be filled with petals of every colour. But the sad reality is I would miss most of them because I wasn't taking the time to look.  He showers my life with abundance - grace upon grace - so many gifts, none of them earned or deserved. But I am so intensely focused on the next question I want an answer for, the next desperate need I want Him to meet, or worse - doing mental gymnastics around a perceived problem rather than bringing it to the One who can help me really see... that I walk straight past the flowers.

Let me ask the question again now, and let us both take some time to think, let's ask the Holy Spirit to help us see, "How have I seen God at work in my life this week?"

I see His handiwork in a friendship that he orchestrated, that has become an iron-sharpening-iron relationship. I'm thankful for how He has placed me regularly in a school devoid of Christian influence, so I can be intentional in praying for and blessing the staff and students. Grateful for the fiery leaves of autumn. Grateful for people to love. Suddenly I realise that much of what I complain about could be turned to gratitude if I just look at the other side of the coin.

Lord, help me develop the habit of choosing gratitude. I want to choose to see the flowers you scatter through my days. I want to hear your song over me. I don't want to miss a thing. Lord, give me eyes to see what you see, and a mind accustomed to choosing gratitude. Amen.