Well…I lost the bet, and I owe Anne a hamburger! Maybe I’ll just play like Wimpy! Remember his famous words? “I’ll gladly pay you Tuesday for a hamburger today.” Those readers with a few trips around the sun will totally get this! Any others may need to try to find some old episodes of Popeye.

I admit to being somewhat of a Pollyanna, and this time I bet Anne that Highway 11 would be totally finished when we returned from our little get away. Of course, I lost the bet, but the road construction is almost complete so I wasn’t far off in my prediction. All things considered, I believe that we will all enjoy the new road.

Most people don’t like change so it will take a minute to get adjusted to the new flow of traffic, but it’s already looking great. I remember hearing about this project for many, many years so to finally have a section of it completed is reason to be thankful.

Matter of fact, the devotional that I’m currently reading is on thankfulness. It’s pretty easy to get bummed out when we look at the world and what we are disappointed in, but there is always much to be thankful for. A thankful heart actually changes our perspective on many things, and it isn’t difficult to cultivate thankfulness.

The author encouraged readers to write down things that are cause for thanksgiving. I have to admit I only did it in my head the first day, but today I’m making more of an effort to follow through with making a little thankful journal. Today’s instructions were considerably more challenging. Readers were instructed to give thanks for the tough situations in our lives.

I had to really think about that one, but even with the challenges in life God’s word says to give thanks in all things. It is a personal sacrifice to get beyond our feelings and give God thanks for the things that have caused us pain and sorrow. 

In my own life probably the most difficult thing I have faced has been the loss of my husband to cancer. Even now, so many years later I still miss him. Many times I have something going on, and I wish I could give him a call, especially when something is happening with one of our precious children. It would be so nice to talk things over with him, but that wasn’t God’s plan for us.

My kids and I have discussed this many times, and we do give thanks. We give thanks that we had so many happy years together. We give thanks that Glen R. is in heaven. We give thanks for all the wonderful memories and love enough to last a lifetime. It is a difficult task to look beyond the heartbreak and realize that our heavenly Father in his wisdom uses even this to mold us more into His image if we trust Him with our pain.     

 

Jan Penton Miller writes a weekly column for The Oxford Eagle.