Iron Rose Sister Ministries

My nephew turned five years old. And, per tradition, I gave him the gift of reading and learning, in Spanish. I speak with him and his sister in only Spanish and we often have fun reading, singing, and playing games in Spanish.
However, already exhausted from a weekend full of family festivities, he turned with tears in his eyes to his parents, after opening my gift, and cried, “But I don’t like Spanish books.”
My sister and brother-in-law are doing a great job of raising a polite, grateful young man, but his expectations were crushed when he opened a bag of books in Spanish (in comparison to the Lego set Pops and Gigi gave him—the exact one he has wanted for over a year).
Prompted to respond with gratitude and not complaint, he turned to me and said, “Gracias Aunt M.”
At the moment, I thought, “He may not be as excited about it now, but when he is older, he will be appreciative of the special bond we have in Spanish, the memories of reading books in Spanish together, and the blessing of familiarity with another language and culture.”
And then my reflections turned inward... Children have a way of teaching us profound life lessons. And this experience was no exception.
How many times have I responded with complaint and not gratitude to God’s opportunities to learn and to be in communication and relationship with Him?
Convicted and inspired, I spent the next several days reflecting on my own attitude of gratitude and contentment. We are told that we can expect good gifts from the Father (Matt. 7:11), but not everything “good” is “fun.” We are called to be grateful for these gifts, even when they are not pleasant...
Thank you, God, for the thorns. I am growing.
Thank you, God, for the trials. I am learning.
Thank you, God, for the challenges. I am grateful.
What can you be thankful for today?