In Word or Deed

In past years, like many others among my friends and acquaintances I have participated in the 30 Days Thankful challenge throughout the month of November - writing a blurb or vignette each day of the month about blessings in my life - big and small - for which I am thankful. For awhile now though, I have felt God calling me to more. Thirty days of thankfulness is great and all, but doesn’t God call us to live a life of daily gratitude?

I know when I’ve written those November thankful posts in years past, doing so has helped me see blessings in areas I might not have otherwise noticed. For 30 days I’ve felt more joyful, less prone to complain, more apt to focus on the good in others. What would happen if I upped the ante on the challenge? What if I made it a point to be purposefully thankful on a truly daily basis? What if I truly attempted to live out the exhortation of Colossians 3:17 - “And whatever you do, in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through Him”?

I’ve journaled for much of my life, and I’ve toyed around with the idea of a journal of daily thankful thoughts. While I do think such a journal would be impactful for me, I felt God challenging me to do more than that; I felt Him urging me to share my journey towards a grateful heart with others. Those who know me well know that writing is a passion of mine; for me, sitting down in front of a computer or with a pen at my hand is when I feel most free and most truly and completely and unself-consciously Julia. It’s also a time I feel very close with my heavenly Father. Perhaps that’s because as I heard a speaker on the radio say recently, when we express ourselves creatively - whether that be through writing, music, cooking, building, etc. - we reflect the creativity of God, whose image we are made in after all. Yet so often I find myself keeping this precious gift God has given me secret, writing in a journal for my eyes only. At other times I even ignore the gift altogether. I get nervous about sharing this part of myself with the world, which is the very opposite of what God asks us to do with the gifts He blesses us with - “As each has received a gift, use it to serve one another, as good stewards of God’s varied grace.” (1 Peter 4:10)

Off and on for two years now I’ve been in this tug of war with God -- feeling Him asking me to accept this challenge of thankful living and to write about it. (What can I say? I’m a pretty stubborn woman. Just ask my dear husband Craig.) I felt this urging more and more in the last few weeks, and then came this year’s Thanksgiving sermon at church - a sermon about how to have a thankful heart. In the middle of the sermon, I said to God, “Ok. I get it. You really want me to do this. Challenge accepted.” When I got home from church, I immediately talked to Craig about my little germ of an idea for starting a thankful blog, and he encouraged me to go for it and helped me start brainstorming for the project.

I’m still incredibly nervous about this challenge. I know at times it may require me to be unflinchingly honest and raw and real, which is scary. Part of me is afraid no one will read what I have to say, while another part of me fears that people will actually read it! I really have very little planned for this challenge. I don’t know if it will be 3 months, 6 months, a year… I know only what I feel God asking me to do - to give thanks to Him daily in things large and small, for things that make me happy as well as things that make me sad because He is in control of it all and has purpose in all of it. And while giving thanks to serve others by sharing the journey. I’m thankful that I don’t have to figure out the rest. I’m thankful that I don’t have to know who - if anyone - will read this little blog because God does. I’m thankful that I won’t be outlining posts for each week because I know God will help me find in each day the things He wants me to focus on and write about. I’m thankful that even though I’m nervous I’m stepping out in faith and finally accepting this challenge and that God kept urging me to do this, even when I was remaining stubborn. Above all, I’m thankful that this blog is God’s and whatever He wants to do with it is up to Him.

“And whatever you do, in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through Him.” Colossians 3:17