An Accidental Thanksgiving
This month, my Facebook newsfeed has been filled with friends' "30 days of thanksgiving" posts. For those not familiar, each day in the month of November, participants post on their social media something in their lives they are thankful for. I know what you're thinking. "But sometimes, it's really HARD to be thankful! It's easy to be thankful for some people. They have everything." I agree. It's easy to be thankful when everything seems to go our way but what about when life punches you in the gut? Take, for example, a conversation I had this week with the owner of the Taco Bell near my home. We've known him and his family members for years... from school... and work... No seriously! (stop judging me)
(Him:) "Hello, how are you doing?"
(Me:) "Oh, pretty good. I should have brought the antler in of the 8 point buck I killed."
"Oh, wow! Good for you!"
"Yeah, don't get so excited. I hit him with my car."
"Oh, s#!÷"
"Well, those weren't my exact words but I'm sure the sentiment is the same."
Here's the shortened version of what happened:
I picked my husband up from his work and headed out of town to pick up our son from Grandma and Grandpa's house. About 8 miles away, we were stopped by the sound of a giant crunching boom.
The deer that hit our car bounced off the front light assembly and panel backwards past the other lane of traffic, past the ditch, into the field. One antler pierced the metal of the panel before it snapped off rolling into the road. A Sheriff's officer came out. A wrecker came out. Grandma and Grandpa came to pick us up with our son in tow. So, now my car is at the repair shop.
As we were on our way back into town, my mom said she had just taught a children's sermon on Sunday about being thankful in all situations. 1 Thessalonians 5:16-18 tells us, "Rejoice always, pray continually, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus." So, from the back seat of my parents' car, we started listing things we were thankful for.
1) The low profile of our car and slant of our hood (combined with the size of the deer) should have sent him straight through our windshield causing possibly deadly injuries: but it didn't.
2) When the antler pierced the side of the car, it could have dragged the deer damaging the length of the side of the car or damaging the undercarriage: but it didn't.
3) If the deer had not cleared the roadway, the carcass could have damaged any of the cars that passed us going in the opposite direction: but it didn't.
4) Our son could have been with us: but he wasn't.
5) We have full-coverage on the car,
6) I got to keep the broken antler and
7) our hazard lights kept us safe as the sun went down. (Even though the light assembly was crushed, the hazard light just got knocked out and plugged right back into the socket!)
Sometimes in life it's hard to be thankful. It certainly would have been easy to have a sour attitude. Shelling out my deductible to fix or replace my car will suck. I'll probably have to get a rental car since our truck is fine for short, in town errands but not reliable for day to day driving. AND, our car was just a few short months from being paid off. Arg!
So many things I could be focusing on but instead I read in Psalms 100 where David writes, "For the Lord is good and his love endures forever; his faithfulness continues through all generations." According to the Dictionary.com website, the word endure means 'to hold out against; sustain without impairment or yielding. God's love and goodness are unyielding! His goodness holds out against our bad days and our constantly failing him. It holds out when our so-called friends talk about us behind our back, holds out whenever we feel lonely, and it holds out when we don't feel like we deserve His love. His goodness even endures when that poopy diaper gets smeared on your bedding and you don't catch it time because you're on the phone with the insurance agent. (Just me? Ok.) Whenever life pushes us to the end of our rope, His love doesn't end there. When we've dug ourselves into a virtual hole and reached rock-bottom, the depths of His goodness goes deeper.
The Lord is good and His love endures forever. Now THAT'S something to be thankful for!
(Him:) "Hello, how are you doing?"
(Me:) "Oh, pretty good. I should have brought the antler in of the 8 point buck I killed."
"Oh, wow! Good for you!"
"Yeah, don't get so excited. I hit him with my car."
"Oh, s#!÷"
"Well, those weren't my exact words but I'm sure the sentiment is the same."
Here's the shortened version of what happened:
I picked my husband up from his work and headed out of town to pick up our son from Grandma and Grandpa's house. About 8 miles away, we were stopped by the sound of a giant crunching boom.
As we were on our way back into town, my mom said she had just taught a children's sermon on Sunday about being thankful in all situations. 1 Thessalonians 5:16-18 tells us, "Rejoice always, pray continually, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus." So, from the back seat of my parents' car, we started listing things we were thankful for.
1) The low profile of our car and slant of our hood (combined with the size of the deer) should have sent him straight through our windshield causing possibly deadly injuries: but it didn't.
2) When the antler pierced the side of the car, it could have dragged the deer damaging the length of the side of the car or damaging the undercarriage: but it didn't.
3) If the deer had not cleared the roadway, the carcass could have damaged any of the cars that passed us going in the opposite direction: but it didn't.
4) Our son could have been with us: but he wasn't.
5) We have full-coverage on the car,
6) I got to keep the broken antler and
7) our hazard lights kept us safe as the sun went down. (Even though the light assembly was crushed, the hazard light just got knocked out and plugged right back into the socket!)
Sometimes in life it's hard to be thankful. It certainly would have been easy to have a sour attitude. Shelling out my deductible to fix or replace my car will suck. I'll probably have to get a rental car since our truck is fine for short, in town errands but not reliable for day to day driving. AND, our car was just a few short months from being paid off. Arg!
So many things I could be focusing on but instead I read in Psalms 100 where David writes, "For the Lord is good and his love endures forever; his faithfulness continues through all generations." According to the Dictionary.com website, the word endure means 'to hold out against; sustain without impairment or yielding. God's love and goodness are unyielding! His goodness holds out against our bad days and our constantly failing him. It holds out when our so-called friends talk about us behind our back, holds out whenever we feel lonely, and it holds out when we don't feel like we deserve His love. His goodness even endures when that poopy diaper gets smeared on your bedding and you don't catch it time because you're on the phone with the insurance agent. (Just me? Ok.) Whenever life pushes us to the end of our rope, His love doesn't end there. When we've dug ourselves into a virtual hole and reached rock-bottom, the depths of His goodness goes deeper.
The Lord is good and His love endures forever. Now THAT'S something to be thankful for!
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