The Long Walk Home

I’m half way through this period of being thankful and I think I want to carry it on after Lent. It’s proving a good way of keeping me in the present, there is no surprise there, all the psychology books in the world will tell you that some form of counting your blessings makes you more chilled and happy as a human being. It’s a good thing to be doing. God knew what he was doing when he wired us up.  Being thankful helps my negative mindset, it helps me see beauty in the mundane, it helps me love and act with grace rather than moaning. Being thankful helps me be content with where I am, not day dreaming my life away or wishing today away to help me get to the weekend. Most of all though being thankful wakes me up to the massive reality that there is someone to thank. It makes me realise that I am a dependant creature, someone who belongs to someone else and is being looked after.

We live so much today with the illusion of being in control, we have devices to make our days run smoother, we run cars, dishwashers, have endless communication via the internet and think that we rule our worlds. We really do not rule our worlds. At the flick of a switch or the rumble of the earth all can be taken away in an instant. We are dependant on trains running on time, on there being a network available to send our e-mails over, on phone battery life, on the internet working to sort out our social life and on petrol prices being vaguely affordable so we can continue with the fast paced life we are used to as we hop from here to there.  We are more dependant than when we grew our own food, lived and had relationships with people in one town and made our own carts for our horse to pull. Being thankful reminds me of that, it reminds me that this world we’ve created in the 21^st Century might not be the pinnacle of human achievement, that improved technology isn’t linked to improved flesh and spirit living and that we are dependant on Someone else to be sustaining the universe by his word.

On another note, I think being thankful makes me easier to live with, although you’d have to consult husbandface on that one. I think I’m more at ease with where I am right now, less moody and demanding and less fearful about the future (well once every Tuesday can only be an improvement…).