Thankful

Sometimes you just have to stop and be thankful.

And I’m not talking about the “sit-around-the-Thanksgiving-Day-table-and-take-a-turn-saying-thanks-for-Aunt-Hazel-and-her-cranberry-salad” kind of thankful. And not the “just-found-my-car-keys” or the “got-the-’A’-I-needed-to-cover-my-butt” thankful, either.

No, I’m talking about gut-level gratitude. Those times when your world slows down, maybe even stops, for a minute or two and the only thing you want to do is say, “Thank you, God. Really, thank you”.

See, if you’re anything like me, we get stuck in that rut where we pray (and sometimes half heatedly) and just kind of hope for the best. So we throw up a hollow prayer and it’s kind of like sticking a token in a slot machine. You hope you win big, that God answers your prayer...maybe even half-way answers it...but down below you’re pretty sure you won’t see a three of a kind. Usually you just get a pear, a plum and a lemon.

And then we conclude, “oh, it’s God’s will” and go about our life.

But then, then, there are the times when God comes through in big, huge, audacious ways that can only be attributed to Him. They can’t find any trace of the cancer. An opportunity that seemed like a wish too delicate to actually hope for presents itself. Haunting ghosts from the past diminish as you look around and see the sun shining on you.

All that...and it’s only Monday.

And for those experiences, for those times, for those kind of days, yeah, I have to stop and be thankful. And it means even more because I’m really lousy at praying.

Since I’m a writer, I know how to insert bullet points of necessary information into conversational prose. Add in some humor here, make a poignant point there and everything comes out sounding pretty good. But when I do that in prayer, it usually ends up as a clunky collection of words. Not from the heart at all. Just shallow. Superficial.

And I get frustrated and end up saying something like, “(*sigh*) God...I’m really crappy at this..so here’s what I’m thinking...who I want to pray for and I guess you’ll do whatever You want to do anyway. But whatever happens, just don’t let me get in Your way. Amen.”

But that’s the thing with God. He’s not looking for professional orators. He doesn’t care if you can recite Bible passages as you pray. He doesn’t care if you don’t "get it right”. It makes no matter whether you’re on a pulpit or a park bench. In a church or a Chinese restaurant. He just wants you.

A conversation, a relationship, with you. For you to be open. Honest. Trusting. Lay it on Him, He can take it. He knows your heart. He knows your past. He knows you fears, your dreams, your desires.

In short, He knows you. And He just wants you to know Him.

The only way to do that is with real, honest dialogue. With a real, honest God. And when we do that – be real with Him – that’s when the real prayer comes out. Answers come. And blessings begin.

And for that, yes, I am truly thankful.

So go ahead, have your own conversation with Him sometime this week. And just see what happens in your own life. I'm betting it's something you'll end up being grateful for.