Gratitude is not my strength as a Christian. Which is convicting, because Romans 1:21 and 2 Timothy 3:2 teach that ingratitude is an indicator of a heart that is not honoring God. The Lord, in His patience, regularly reminds me of this and brings my mind and heart back to a stance of conscious gratitude.

This often happens through a quick perspective shift as I am going about my daily business.

One memory of this is seared into my mind: I was single, living in a house with lots of wonderful Christian roommates. We had a strict chore rotation, and it was my turn to clean the bathroom that I shared with a couple of my roommates. It was the biggest bathroom in the house, meaning it took a while to clean. I found myself grumbling as I gathered up my cleaning supplies and headed into the bathroom.

Then it struck me: Thank the Lord that I have a bathroom to clean!

Grumbling about the unpleasantness of the task, or the time it would take me to complete it, had completely pushed out gratitude from my heart.

But once I remembered that the bathroom, complete with electric lighting, indoor plumbing, hot water, a rug to keep my feet warm, etc., was a gift from the Lord, suddenly I found gratitude for the blessing and joy in faithfully stewarding that space.

Gratitude and grumbling cannot coexist in the heart. One will push the other out. (I’m currently reading Learning Contentment by Nancy Wilson. She makes a similar point in her book, which I highly recommend reading!)

Fast forward to another memorable moment. Now I’m a wife and mother. My kids are still very little, meaning they are good at making messes, not so good at cleaning them up. I’m walking around the house, and see toys lined up in front of the door I want to go through. My initial inclination is to be frustrated.

But then a question hit me: What do these toys represent? They represent able-bodied, healthy kids, who can get themselves around the house. Kids with imaginations, who, in their minds, probably had a very good reason, complete with a storyline and an end goal, for putting those toys in that exact spot. They represent kids who are resourceful, and can turn any object into a truck part, a train engine, a bridge, you name it.

This simple perspective shift can apply to any situation.

Now, as I’m going about my daily work, when I come upon an unexpected mess, or a mess that I just don’t want to deal with at the moment, or whatever it is that tempts my heart to grumble, I stop myself and turn it into gratitude. I am thankful for the tiny feet that fill all those shoes piled by the door. I am thankful for the abundance of food the Lord has provided to feed my family, which produced the mass of dishes in the sink. I am thankful for the hours I get to spend outside enjoying the sunshine while tackling the never-ending advance of the weeds.

It is easy as mothers to just focus on how hard everything is. Because it is hard. But every challenge comes with an opportunity to offer up thanksgiving to the Lord!