All Is Grace

A poem of thanksgiving

As I’ve shared before, I’m not naturally a very grateful person. The trials of life seem to do all they can to try to make me bitter, and something tells me I’m not alone in this. But what if, instead, I allow the trials to make me better? This is not easy work, of course. Gratitude is a practice, a muscle that we must strengthen through use. But it also a command of Scripture, not because God wants to make us say thanks as little automatons but because every good and perfect gift comes from a Father who deeply loves us.¹ He gives generously to us as His beloved children.

God knows, too, that gratitude is for our good. When we can learn to be content in any circumstance, as Paul was², that means in a way that we are grateful no matter what the circumstance is. It doesn’t mean we have to be thankful for the circumstance, but we do have to be thankful in the midst of the circumstance because the One who controls all things is the One sustaining us minute by minute.

Every day, He is giving us the grace to say thanks, even if the words come with tears, even if they come out as little more than a groan. When we pray with thanks, He answers with peace.³ He searches our hearts and handles them with care.

The poem below is my grappling with all of this. I pray it encourages you. May the Lord bless and keep you, today and always.

1. James 1:17

2. Philippians 4:11-13

3. Philippians 4:6-7