Thankful

There was a season where I was trying to focus on things that I am thankful for.  In a time of uncertainty and frustration, I committed to keep my mind on the good.  The places where my cup overflows rather than the spaces where the well runs dry.

And somewhere along the line I lost sight of that.

I got caught up in the craziness, in the busyness, in the stress, in the to-do lists. I found myself frustrated by the unfinished. Stifled by the unsaid. Stuck in the ungrateful.

But that's a dark place, and a place that I don't normally dwell.

Yes, there will be challenges.  Life is full of them.  We grow because of them. If we're not stretched, we'll never know.

And that stretching is something to be thankful for.

And so, today, I'm choosing to be thankful.

As a friend came into my office and talked through a struggle, I found myself overwhelmed by thankfulness for that friendship.

It's a friendship forged in fire and sometimes frustration, but at the end of the day we can talk it out, fight through it, and leave the conversation feeling like something good is on the horizon.  At least that's how I feel.

In this transient life that I live, the friendships go deep quickly and then transition to spanning continents before you know it, but I'm still thankful.

The song from Wicked always comes back to my mind:

I've heard it said

That people come into our lives for a reason
Bringing something we must learn
And we are led
To those who help us most to grow
If we let them
And we help them in return

Well, I don't know if I believe that's true
But I know I'm who I am today
Because I knew you
Like a comet pulled from orbit

As it passes a sun
Like a stream that meets a boulder
Halfway through the wood
?Who can say if I've been changed for the better
But because I knew you
I have been changed for good

It well may be
That we will never meet again
In this lifetime
So let me say before we part
So much of me
Is made of what I learned from you
You'll be with me
Like a handprint on my heart

And now whatever way our stories end
I know you have re-written mine
...By being my friend

Today, I'm thankful for those friendships that cause us to grow, that help us weather the storms, and that are constants in our lives regardless of distance.

And yet even in that thankfulness, there's the acknowledgement that it hurts a little.

But that's no excuse not to be thankful.