A January Thanksgiving

It came no surprise to me that I needed a drastic perspective shift yesterday. After all, I had written a ra-ra-shish-koom-ba post  and no doubt The Enemy saw it... and wanted to derail it.

But great news. He didn't win. 

Here's the very general back story: I posted "Your Personal Cheerleader" talking about how awesome God was, how we all need a pick me up sometimes etc. Well, between army stuff, normal life stuff, army stuff (oh wait, did I already mention that?), hormones, and general marriage stuff, I myself needed a pick-me-up. Things were wearing on me. Oh, and it's prayer week at Christ Community, which is great-- except God is (fortunately) using some of that time to create revelations in my heart, which makes my emotions vulnerable. (He know's what he is doing... but its never easy.) 

Needless to say: I was in a pretty rotten mood yesterday. SIGH. I despise being in a funk. It stinks. 

The mopey-grumbly feeling didn't show up til about noon yesterday. Due to some brief miscommunication with my beloved and/or the army, my optimistic cheerleader apparently decided to hibernate. Fantastic. 

For the next couple of hours, I grumbled to myself around the house, slamming cabinet doors, stomp, stomp, stomping, ignoring the whispers from God about what He was trying to reinforce in me about patience, self-sacrifice, forgiveness, being slow to anger etc. Yeah, all those super-sweet subjects. 

I made it to about 2:30pm. I had already done one workout at the gym totaling 10 miles (2 on the elliptical, 8 on the bike... it is my low impact day) I sat down to blog... and nada. Zippo. I couldn't get inspired to write anything positive. 

Suddenly, as I was staring at the computer screen, fighting back tears for the second (or was it third?) time that day, I had a revelation... A feeling of thanksgiving swelled over me. I was sick of moping, and I knew that if I sat here, letting things stew and boil before I could discuss them with my beloved when I see him next (which wasn't going to be until the next evening) things would not go well. I would be a mess. 

I slammed my computer shut and told (yelled towards?) Baby Dog Justus, "Screw this. We are going for a walk. And I WILL be thankful for today and smile if kills me!" (Can you say "Screw" on a Christian blog? Hope so. Cuz I just did.)

I slapped on my tennis shoes, grabbed my purse, keys, pen and pencil. Our normal walk around the neighborhood wouldn't suffice. I needed some nature. With God. Where I could give thanks. 

We stormed out of the house. (Sidenote: Is it really storming out of the house if no one is there to see it? Kind of like if a tree falls in the woods and no one is around does it still make a sound?) Justus and I hopped in the car, and off we went. 

I drove for a few minutes across post to a little pond nature-y trail area. We took off. 

We had thanksgiving in January. As I walked, I was intentional to breathe deeply and keep my eyes open to the gifts God had placed in my life. (That was what the pen and pencil was for.) 

Three miles later, I had captured the following Thanksgiving gifts for my 1000 gifts list. (Based on the book by Ann Voskamp.)  Not all of these things actually happened, but I was reminded of them on our walk. My mind drifted to thoughts of God instead of thoughts of annoyance and this world. 

347. Reading by the water

348. Warm wind blowing through my hair

349. Gazebos

350. January days that are warm enough to wear shorts

351. Puppy "smiles" that show white teeth and pink tongue

352. Seeing fish swim in a pond

353. The distant sound of rifle/gunshots at a range on post (I'm an army spouse. Don't judge me for this one. I think it is really sexy cool.)

354. Wet musty cool dirt smell

355. Ivy winding up a tree

356. The sound of a tractor

357. Eating fresh honeycomb

358. Hollow trees

359. Magnolia blossoms as big as your face

360. Leaves covering a path

361. My bucket list

362. Butterflies

363. Big backyards

364. Patio furniture

365. War memorials

366. Soldiers working crossing guard duty

367. The Infantryman's Creed

368. Being up high looking down

369. Laying on your back outside looking up

370. Random conversations with an awkward middle school boy on a bike about your "weird dog"

By the time Ladybug (our red Pontiac Vibe) was back in view, I felt great. Honestly, I felt like a new woman. My perspective shifted from incredibly ticked to incredibly thankful. I went from "poor, poor, pitiful me" to "blessed, thankful, God loves me." We don't have to wait til next November to be thankful. Start today. Right where you are. Even in the midst of a pending storm. 

I didn't have to have turkey, gravy and pumpkin pie to have my Thanksgiving in January. I just needed Jesus. And I don't know about you... but I am STUFFED. 

Enjoying His Gifts,

SGK  

"Do you see what we've got? An unshakable kingdom! And do you see how thankful we must be? Not only thankful, but brimming with worship, deeply reverent before God. For God is not an indifferent bystander. He's actively cleaning house, torching all that needs to burn, and he won't quit until it's all cleansed. God himself is Fire!" --Hebrews 12:28-29 (MSG)

If You Can't Say Something Nice...

Today's post is brought to you by: 

1) Advice from my mama

2) The movie Bambi

3) My personal life frustrations 

Quite a list huh? This should be interesting. 

Ok, we all have to admit we get frustrated. Annoyed. Ticked off. Irked. Fired up. Angry. It happens-- it's a part of life. The triggers for these things cover the entire gamut: family, jobs, kids, church, pets, laundry, businesses, customer service, traffic etc. For me, especially this week, it has been a combination of my masters homework, miscommunication and the United States Army. 

The combination of some slightly icky assignments from school in my LAST first week of my masters program (yay!) coupled with some crossed wire of communication with my honey as well as some scheduling challenges from the army have falling in the category of frustrating, annoying, anger-inducing... well you get my drift. I was upset. ARGH. 

But the question is: What do we do with those feelings and frustrations when they surface? Unfortunately, some folks choose to blow it out of proportion... and make it a public drama. In one word: Facebook. (Disclaimer: this post might turn into a soapbox post... or more appropriately based on my vocation, "preaching.") 

Social media is no place to air the dirty laundry, profanities and unfiltered anger we experience. When these challenging experiences hit me square in the face, my first urge literally was to Tweet about it and post on Facebook. What the heck? How did I get wired THAT way?? I had some great snarky, sarcastic ideas planned to give the offending parties a piece of my mind for all the digital world to see. But I have made it a personal policy NOT to be intentionally negative. No matter HOW fired up I am. 

This is where the lesson from my Mama and the movie "Bambi" comes in... take the great words of Thumper the baby rabbit... (Check out the youtube link here for a lil blast of childhood past.) 

"IF YOU CAN'T SAY SOMETHING NICE... 

DON'T SAY NUTTIN AT ALL." 

I had that little animated advice circling in my brain for days. I thought to myself "If I post this snarky message on Facebook, what good is it going to do? It's going to make me feel better for about 10 seconds... but it won't encourage anyone. It won't highlight the love of God." So I didn't post my grumbly thoughts. Instead, I took the advice of Thumper... and stayed silent. 

Now I'm not saying that you have to keep your personal life under lock and key, guarded with no hope of help from the outside. No, no, no. We all have to vent. But doing it on Facebook probably isn't the most productive (or safe OR productive) place to do it. Even when I am feeling down, I still try to post something that might lift others (self included) up, like an encouraging Scripture or even asking others to pray for me. 

Instead of Facebooking our issues, why don't we just FACE it head on? Take it up with someone who can handle it... God, perhaps? He is a big boy and can handle our anger, frustrations, annoyance etc. I sometimes have to beg Him to change my attitude towards the whole situation and release me from my selfish, sinful heart that is only seeing the here and now problems and not the there and later awesome potential. 

It says in Ecclesiastes 7:8-9 "The end of a matter is better than its beginning, and patience is better than pride. Do not be quickly provoked in your spirit, for anger resides in the lap of fools." I don't know about you, but I would rather not be known as a fool... and don't really need extra stuff in my lap. 

Next time Satan is in your grill, urging you to spread HIS messages of frustration, selfishness, sin, anger, annoyance, to the world take it up with God instead of ALL your friends on Facebook and ALL your followers on Twitter. Instead, ask your friends on Facebook to pray for you. Choose those who you vent to wisely-- like a close friend, parent, puppy, or even that discount punching bag in the garage. 

Don't be known as a "fool" or bring others down... be real with the world, but ask God what you should do about it first. When it comes to publicly venting, remember to take the advice of Thumper... "If you can't say something nice... don't say nothing at all!" 

Forgoing Facebook Frustration, 

SGK 

"A fool gives full vent to his anger, but a wise man keeps himself under control." -- Proverbs 29:11