Sometimes it is easier to sit in a puddle than to get out of the rain. If you’ve ever tried to push a car out of the mud or snow, you know what I mean. You give everything you have to give. Maybe you take a breather and do it again, and again. But eventually, you realize, this “mountain” is not going to move…not by MY efforts. So you gather up enough energy to get back into the car and sink into the seat. In exhaustion, your mind wrestles with, “Who am I going to call for help?”

Now, I know, calling for help should be the first step when the ‘mud’ of life sinks us into a pit of despair. But even calling out seems to take so much energy. The reality of the pain is so ever-present, so consuming, I cannot ignore it. But I cannot live with it all day either. Sleeping much of the day is a nice anesthetic, but it is temporary and staying in bed contributes to the problem rather than solving it.

I know that giving thanks to God is my only hope because God inhabits praise and there is no quicker way to draw closer to Him than to thank Him. But even that seems to take more effort than I have to give.

And so here is the choice we all face: sit in the puddle of our pain, miserable and without hope, or with each incoming breath, give thanks to God for one specific thing. Exhale the tension you feel, and with the next breath thank Him for another. If you run out of things for which you are thankful, Google “the promises of God” and give thanks for each of these.

Come near to God and he will come near to you. James 4:8