Thank you for...
Written by Débora Rodrigo de Racancoj
We have the habit of praying together every night before putting my four-year-old daughter into her bed. Her prayers are so pure and innocent that, at times, I would like to pray in the same way that she does. Each sentence in her prayer begins with "Thank you for ...". It does not matter if she is actually making a request, she will also use the expression "thank you for ...". I do not think I will ever forget that night when, after some thieves entered our home to steal, she ended her day with "Thank you, Lord for the bad guys who have taken our things." Of course her intention was not to be grateful for what had happened, but this made me think about it.
1 Thessalonians 5:18 tells us that God's will is that we give thanks to God in everything. Not only in good times. I personally struggle to thank God for all the good things He gives me every day. There are many of them. But there are very few that I thank, mainly because most of them go by without me being aware that they are gifts from God (James 1:17).
And if I am unable to overcome this first test, how much more will the second cost me: being grateful for those not so pleasant things that happen in my life. James 1:2-4 encourages us to consider the trials as a reason for joy, I surmise that also as reasons of gratitude. It is true that the trials are those moments that make us mature as Christians and help us to be complete and perfect, as James mentions in his letter. It is not, therefore, out of place to give thanks during those times, perhaps not for the pain and suffering that they make us go through, but for the opportunity that they offer for our lives as Christians.
I challenge you to imitate my daughter before going to bed tonight, and try to complete an entire prayer in which each sentence begins with the expression "Lord, thank you for ...". I'm sure that we have many more reasons to be grateful than what we normally find.