A Life Filled With Good Things

On the windowsill above my kitchen sink, there sits a decorative tin box that holds and displays little cards with Bible verses on them. I spent all $13.47 of my income tax return on it a number of years ago.

This morning, I took out a new verse to display just before I began doing the dishes.

My initial thought was, what a delightful and true way to start the new year! Here I was doing dishes because we had food to eat; I could see my three beautiful, healthy children outside playing in the snow together; my husband was already off working at his job; I had just spent the last week warmly surrounded by extended family, celebrating Christmas. I was anticipating getting the household back to normal after several weeks of decorating, shopping, gift-giving, and attending Christmas events. My life is filled with good things!

My second impulse was to feel “bad.”  Here I was, feeling contented with my happy life, getting ready to go back to “normal” and yet how many people in this world, in my own community, in my own circle of acquaintances, wouldn't love to go back to “normal” but cannot? People who are facing life without a loved one, people whose illnesses have not yet been healed, whose broken relationships have not yet been mended, whose problems have not yet been solved? How could I be happy when all these others are facing heart-rending challenges or losses?

And yet...

Ann Voskamp writes in her book, One Thousand Gifts:

                    How does it save the world to reject unabashed joy when it is

                    joy that saves us? Rejecting joy to stand in solidarity with the

                    suffering doesn't rescue the suffering. The converse does. The

                    brave who focus on all things good and all things beautiful and

                    all things true, even in the small, who give thanks for it and dis-

                    cover joy even in the here and now, they are agents of change

                    who bring fullest Light to all the world. (p. 58, emphasis mine)

I will always be able to find someone who is worse off than me and also someone who is better off than me. I could spend my life feeling badly for the suffering or feeling envious of the wealthy. This is a seriously tempting option, except that I have recently been reminded again that sometimes it is the suffering who are rich and the wealthy who are suffering.

As ridiculous as it sounds, I sometimes feel like I should be cautious about being too happy, like I may use up my life quota of happiness too soon and just be left with sorrow. Or that being thankful for what I have means I am uncaring towards those who have to live without. However, I am going to choose instead to spend my life in gratitude for what I have right now and trust that God will grant me the grace I need when I am the one suffering, and a spirit of generosity when I am the one with abundance. So here's to a year full of joy and gratitude, grace and generosity! Happy 2013!