Being thankful for the bad things
When I was thirteen, I underwent major surgery for acute scoliosis (curvature of the spine). The doctors and nurses spent hours prepping me for the pain, discomfort, expected recovery time... One nurse mentioned, “When you get out of surgery, you're gonna feel like you just got run over by a Mack truck.”
So I was ready for the pain.
But when I woke up after surgery, I didn't feel anything. I couldn't move and for a while I couldn't even open my mouth to speak. I lay there, silently crying, completely sure that the one-in-a-thousand chance tragedy had happened; that the doctor's knife had slipped and I was going to be paralyzed for the rest of my life.
Of course a few minutes later the anesthesia wore off and the Mack truck hit. I had expected to endure and "deal with" the pain; I had never expected to be glad about it.
Sometimes it takes an experience like this to realize the little things we should be thankful for. It's easy to spout gratitude for successes and joys...but often it is the failures, the annoyances, the pains that are the signs of our greatest blessings.
This Thanksgiving, I'm trying to be thankful for...
...the mess my toddlers make every day, because it means they have toys and books to play with and food to eat (and, uh, smear on the highchair).
...the rejections that are forcing me to better my writing.
...every bit of pain, because it means I'm growing and feeling and alive.
...difficulties, for reminding me I can't survive on my own...
And mostly I am thankful for the assurance that I am not alone.
I'll close with one of my favorite poems, by Joyce Kilmer, because he could say things much more eloquently than I am able:
Thanksgiving
(For John Bumker)
The roar of the world is in my ears.
Thank God for the roar of the world!
Thank God for the mighty tide of fears
Against me always hurled!
Thank God for the bitter and ceaseless strife,
And the sting of His chastening rod!
Thank God for the stress and the pain of life,
And Oh, thank God for God!
This is so touching; thanks for sharing. It's important for us to give thanks for strife, because that's usually what makes us better. And there's nothing better than BEING better.
ReplyDelete:)
You don't know how much I needed to read this right not. I'm very, very ill ... in constant pain, and I try to remind myself: Be thankful in ALL circumstances.
ReplyDeleteMy children are learning kindness and compassion. I am learning to let go. I still take great joy in all small things. And by His stripes we are healed.
Will you pray for me?
What an amazing, awesome, incredible post. Thank you, thank you, thank you! I especially needed to read that bit about being thankful for the mess your toddlers make, because I need to have eyes like that when I look at my kids. Sometimes I just get so wrapped up in everything I think I should be accomplishing (ie. a clean house -- especially around Thanksgiving time!), and it's just ridiculous. What a glass-half-full way of looking at life. And amen -- thank God for God! He is what I'm most thankful for in life. Without Him I would have nothing to be thankful for.
ReplyDeleteAmy
Faith, So so wonderfully lovely. Thank you so much. I love this.
ReplyDeleteVijaya, I am saying a prayer for you tonight.
Well said, Faith; and an excellent reminder to all of us! :)
ReplyDeleteBig hugs to you and yours!
Thank you, Faith... I'm trying to remember that right now, too!
ReplyDeleteVijaya, I will pray for you! I know how hard it can be to live in constant great pain, especially when trying to deal with little ones who don't understand why Mommy can't even move. I will pray that the Lord will heal you - and that He will give you the strength to make it through, one minute at a time.
"It's very easy to write beautiful things about suffering, but writing is nothing, nothing! One must suffer in order to know! ...I would not suffer less." ~St. Therese of the Child Jesus