God's Telescope
Gratitude is not an emotion. Let me explain. I think we have all had intense moments of feeling grateful. It’s an absolutely beautiful feeling, but we can’t sit and wait for gratefulness to come when it does. The truth is, to live in gratitude is a choice. It is a mindset we can choose to cultivate, and often it asks us to choose a reframe or hold multiple perspectives at once. And choosing gratitude doesn’t mean that you suddenly feel grateful, but it does invite God to sit at your table, even when you are in the midst of the deepest pain.
Because gratitude does not override grief but rather walks hand in hand with it. Many of you know that my dad passed in 2024. I thought I would cry forever. There were many things to be sad about. I wanted more time with him. But one day, God asks me if I would have rather had him and lost him or not had him at all. And suddenly my grief was reframed. I could honor and remember the incredibly goofy and humorous man that was my dad and am so grateful that God sent him to me. My dad loved everybody he met, and I am blessed to carry on the legacy.
So embrace that feeling of gratefulness when it comes and choose gratitude in the day to day. Because God does everything for the highest good. It is easy to look at the path in front of you with a microscope and see all the flaws. But you can’t see constellations with a microscope; you need God’s telescope for that. The telescope is my lens of gratitude. The microscope and the telescope are both useful tools. One helps us see what is right in front of us. The other reminds us there is a much bigger story unfolding. We need both.
~c
This Week’s Reflection
“You can choose reverence, or you can choose resentment.”
Featured Photo by Violet
Violet took this picture on a recent trip to the zoo. As a four-year-old, she was obsessed with flamingos, and who can blame her? There is something magical and marvelous about the quirky pink birds. Like a pink chicken on stilts, they seem too odd to actually exist, but there they are, in six living species.