Shattered Glass and Learning to Give Thanks

The day started like any other day off. The To-Do list penned. A load of laundry begun. Heading out the door to a dentist appointment.

In a rush, I slam a cupboard door. Because even a day off can feel urgent.

Instantly, I regret my hurried attempt to get one more thing done.

I hear a loud crash—the sound of a day’s To-Do list suddenly altered.

Carefully, I open the door and find a 9 x 13 casserole dish sparkling in a heap of tiny glass particles.

New tasks for my day get jotted down.

“Clean up every piece of glass.”

“While you’re at it, organize the cupboard.”

The day before, I’d been listening to Ann VosKamp’s book, “One Thousand Gifts.”

“The real problem of life is never a lack of time,” Ann writes. “The real problem of life is lack of thanksgiving.”

As I started on my new “To-Do’s” for the day, my list was altered again.

With the shattering of glass and the day’s reorganization, my heart found a place of thanks that spilled on to a new list—an enumeration of gifts.

“Finding a pair of scissors I’d given up looking for.”

“Items to be recycled, removing the clutter.”

Life is full of the shattered. The urgent. The waiting to be found. The unplanned.

But when we find in these a way to give thanks, they turn from joy-stealers to joy-initiators.

Giving thanks isn’t a round-the-table game on a holiday filled with enough. Thanksgiving is a daily way to find joy.

When life surprises you with the suddenly shattered, pick up the pieces and make a list.

In every loss, thanksgiving will open the door to joy.

“Be thankful unto Him, and bless His name.

For the LORD is good.” (Psalm 100:4,5)