Sights and Insights
Thank you! Everything in me says “Thank you!” Angels listen as I sing my thanks. I kneel in worship facing your holy temple and say it again: “Thank you!” Thank you for your love, thank you for your faithfulness; Most holy is your name, most holy is your Word. The moment I called out, you stepped in; you made my life large with strength. – Psalm 138:1-3 (The Message)
Have you ever had one of those days that it feels like everything is going wrong? Every plan you make falls through, every action you take goes wrong? It is easy to get into a mindset that sees all of the problems and imperfections. The reality is that we set ourselves up for unhappiness and disappointment by expecting that everything will go right. It is inevitable that there will be bumps in the road, that our plans will fizzle, and unexpected difficulties will arise. By expecting everything to be perfect we will inevitably be disappointed. We will end up focused on everything that has gone wrong. When we get caught up in all that has gone wrong, we fail to notice everything that has gone right. Any given day you have innumerable successes. Your car runs, you have food to eat, you have a pleasant chat with someone. Yet we often can only remember the two or three things that have gone wrong.
Yet if we can shift our focus from the imperfections of the day to a celebration of the small things that go well, it can recast the whole day. One of the key things I remember from our training for preparing to move to a new culture was the importance of celebrating all of the small steps. When so much is new, you need to celebrate the successes. Successfully get over get lag? Celebrate it. Managed to buy shampoo at the store when all of the labels are in a new language? Celebrate it! Learned to say a full sentence in a new language? Time to celebrate. These celebrations need not be elaborate; rather, simply taking a moment to congratulate yourself makes a huge difference. The ability to celebrate the small achievements is a key part of successfully navigating the transition into a completely new culture; those that can do it tend to be the ones who are able to stay for a long term.
The mental shift to celebrating the small steps can make a difference even if you are not moving to a new culture. In the midst of a bad day, learning to notice what goes well can change your whole outlook. For instance, it helps to reframe that voice in your head. Instead of saying to yourself, “What went wrong,” it can help to say, “What am I learning here?” It may be that we need to learn the same thing again and again, but keeping up an attitude of curiosity can help us to see all of the good things that are around us each day. It opens our minds up to living with a feeling of true gratefulness rather than being bogged down in disappointment.
A life focused on gratitude for all of the small and forgotten blessings is a life ready to give praise to God. Rarely does God hit us over the head with an obvious message. Most of the time, God is there in the quiet and unnoticed blessings. God’s gift of grace is a gift that comes in the midst of the imperfections of life in general, and indeed the personal imperfections of our life specifically (that is, the reality of our sin). God takes joy in us despite the ways that we go wrong; and God surrounds us with blessings that we too easily miss in our lofty expectations of perfection. May we find a spirit of gratitude to accept the gift of grace and the joy to revel in all that goes right but unnoticed.