Give thanks in all circumstances

This Thanksgiving... I am thankful for a hot sunny day, the improving health of my body, a good night's sleep, strong black coffee, a challenging workout at the gym followed by a sauna, a delicious meal, discovering new music on Spotify, watering my garden in the warm of the evening, my wife's relentless love, friends who check in on me, the annoying constancy of the pings of my family group chat, learning from the wisdom of others (a good podcast), a glass of cold chardonnay, discovering new things about myself (a shout out to my psychologist - " a BIG thank you"). I am thankful for this gift that's called 'life'. 

“Give thanks in all circumstances” 

I love these words from Brian McLaren*

The words “in all circumstances” (found in 1 Thessalonians 5:18) shouldn’t be confused with “for all circumstances,” of course. But neither should they be thinned to mean “in easy circumstances.” Even in pain, we can find a place of gratitude, a place where alongside the agony of loss we still count and appreciate what remains
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You may lose a loved one, or facet after facet of your physical health, but you can still be grateful for what you have left. And what if you lose more, and more, and more, if bad goes to worse? Perhaps at some point, all of us are reduced to despair, but my hunch is—and I hope I never need to prove this in my own life, but I may, any of us may—having lost everything, one may still be able to hold on to one’s attitude, one’s practiced habit of gratitude, of turning to God in Job-like agony and saying, "For this breath, thanks. For this tear, thanks. For this memory of something I used to enjoy but have now lost, thanks. For this ability not simply to rage over what has been taken, but to celebrate what was once given, thanks.” 

* Brian D. McLaren, Naked Spirituality: A Life with God in 12 Simple Words (HarperOne, 2011), 59, 60.