Attitude of Gratitude – The Light at the End of the Tunnel

Faith, Personal Development | 0 comments

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Life is stressful. Things don’t go according to our plans and sometimes it’s hard to see God’s hand in the picture that He is painting in our lives. Seasons of change, seasons of struggle, seasons of distress, seasons of darkness. We all have them. It can be so hard to consistently maintain an attitude of gratitude!

developing an attitude of gratitude through trials by seeing the Light at the end of the tunnel

The amazing thing about going through all of the trials is that, as a believer in God, we have a Light at the end of the tunnel. Even when that tunnel seems to go on forever and you can’t even see the Light through the dark, it’s there. We can cling to that hope.

Just because we can’t see the big picture doesn’t mean that it isn’t beautiful.

I’m reminded of a story that I heard a long time ago about a person who looks at a beautiful tapestry. The Creator walks up beside her and they have a conversation about the rich and vibrant colors. God explains that this is the tapestry of the observer’s life. The person is confused because she can’t understand how her life, full of so many trials and tears, could weave such a beautiful finished product. God then points out to her that the crimson threads in the flowers are her trials, the dark blues in the sky are her tears.

It occurred to me that this is the second time this week that I’ve written about attitude. On Monday I wrote about developing a mothering attitude and today I’m talking about an attitude of gratitude. Perhaps this is because the last few weeks (maybe even the last few years?) have been a mental struggle for me. I’ll be totally honest and say that it has been tough to be eating dinner alone with my kids nearly every night and telling them that daddy isn’t able to read bedtimes stories tonight because he’s working late. It’s tough to be woken up 25 times a night with an upset (read: screaming) toddler for what seems like no reason at all other than he’s mad that he’s not still asleep. It’s tough to remain positive when I’m in pain from my pregnancy and it feels like nothing is going right. Writing this post, as well as the one on Monday, has been a great reminder to myself to focus on the fact that this phase in our life will pass (i.e. the Biscuit will sleep again… someday!) and to look for the beauty within the trials.

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God doesn’t appreciate grumbling and I don’t want to let it gain a foothold. I missed writing in my gratitude journal several days last week and it really affected my mental state.

Here are some of the things that I’m grateful for:

Biscuit is waking up. I would rather he wake up 25 times than never again.

I have a loving husband who is willing to put in ridiculous hours to feed our family.

I have been blessed with amazing friends who were willing to uproot their whole lives to follow God’s call to come work with us.

Since we now have extra help on the farm, I haven’t had to do chores and my physical pain has significantly lessened because of it.

The crops are off so Adam has been able to join us for dinner and bedtimes the last couple nights.

Have you had moments of grumbling too? Even though you may not be able to see the final picture, share in the comment section some things that you’re choosing to be grateful for, in spite of the trials. Feel free to share your trials as well so I can say a prayer for you.