Gratitude

By Megan (Steps for Brady)

When I was little my mom forced me to write thank you cards to anyone who gave me a gift. I remember struggling to stretch my thoughts beyond a basic “thank you for the new sweater, I like it a lot.” Now that I’m an adult, I’m truly thankful for my mother’s lessons in gratitude. I know that I always feel good when I receive a heartfelt thank you, or a kindly written note in the mail.  And I try whole-heartedly to send a note of gratitude to anyone who acts kindly upon our family.

In recent months our family has had to swallow our pride and raise our hands to accept hundreds of gifts from our family and friends. Now that the dust has settled after my son’s illness, we were at a loss for how to properly thank all of those who cared enough to reach out of us in our time of crisis. The idea for a BIG party was something that came to us in the midst of our son’s battle with cancer. I recall myself saying to my husband during several long days at the hospital, “When Brady beats this, we are going to have the BIGGEST party ever!” The idea of this grand celebration gave us the “something to look forward to” that we were both in desperate need of.

This past weekend we had our grand party, the “Brady Bash” as we called it. We opened the invitation to anyone who had been following Brady’s story. On that 85+ degree day more than 150 amazing people showed up to celebrate our son’s journey and to allow us to thank them with food and fellowship.  It was a lot of work, but work that made us happy to do, doing so made us feel like we were expressing our gratitude in the best way we could. Hopefully our feelings of appreciation shone through this day and those who attended could sense our gratitude.

As good as it felt to say thank you to so many, I know that I have a long way to go in this area of my life. I vividly remember raising my hands in thanks to God when our son pulled through his 2^nd major surgery. Certainly I was showing how thankful I was at that moment. But what about every day? Am I remembering to send my daily thank you card to my Savior for what He has done in my life? It’s so easy for me to fall back into the trap of being down for what I don’t have, for prayers unanswered, for what I’m not...

The Bible says;

"He who sacrifices thank offerings honors me, and he prepares the way so that I may show him the salvation of God." (Psalm 50:23)

It may be easier for me to be thankful for the big things and to show gratitude in a way that fulfills a need for me. That’s not hard to do. Where my focus needs to be is on the quiet gratitude in my heart. That type of humble gratitude is the kind that truly honors God.

How are you showing your gratitude to those around you and to God?

Megan is a fellow blogger who is a stay-at-home mom to four wonderful kids under the age of two. She blogs to tell the story of her precious son Brady diagnosed with neuroblastoma on January 21, 2009.